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The Kindergarten in the Home 



" In the sunlit garden, 
Through our glad spring day, 
Watch the happy little folks 
Turning Work, to play." 

— Froebel. 



Kindergarten 
in the Home 

A Book for Parents and for 
All Interested in Child-Training 



By 

Carrie S. Newman 

Illustrated by 
Etheldred B. Barry 

" The Angel Life within each child is more 
precious than any other thing in the world." 
— Andrea Hofer Proudfoot. 




Boston % L. C. Page C& 
Company 5, Mdccccix 



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•9mmegmmE3S£3BmmmmmK^ 



*-_£> 
M* 



Copyright, 1909, 

By L. C. Page & Company 

(incorporated) 

Entered at Stationers' 1 Hall 



First Impression, June, 1909 



COLONIAL PRESS 
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
Boston, U. S. A. 



C!a. A, 


2 4 3 6 7 9 


JUL 


12 


T909 









TO 

THE DEAR SISTER, BROTHER, AND LITTLE NIECES 

WHOSE HOME LIFE IS A CONSTANT SOURCE 

OF INSPIRATION, 

I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK. 



" The distant stars were shilling long before their 
rays reached our earth; the seed germinates in dark- 
ness and is growing long before we can see its growth; 
so in the depths of an infant soul a process goes on 
which is hidden from our ken, yet upon which hangs 
more than we can dream of good or ill, happiness, or 
misery." — Feoebel. 



Preface 

— * — 

Each year of work in the Kindergarten 
deepens the conviction that in Froebel's 
writings are hidden rich gems for the 
mother in her work of home building and 
child nurture. 

His style, however, is somewhat obscure, 
and the busy mother with her limited time 
for reading is not likely, unaided, to pene- 
trate into his deep secrets. 

It, therefore, becomes both the duty and 
the privilege of those who have the leisure 
and inclination to delve into these mines of 
truth, to unearth and bring to the notice of 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

those actively engaged in child nurture 
these priceless gems. 

To present in a simple and attractive form 
some of the truths underlying Froebel's sys- 
tem of education is the object of this book. 

If, by its words, a deeper reverence for 

child-nature is awakened in some breast ; if 

new light is thrown upon the problems 

which confront parents in their work; if 

fresh inspiration and joy is kindled in some 

heart and some home blessed thereby, its 

mission will be fulfilled, and the writer 

abundantly repaid for the hours spent upon 
it. 

Having found a source of light and in- 
spiration one longs to lead other thirsty 
souls to the same fountain. 

The deep importance of the first years of 
life, and the impressions gained then, grows 
on one as the years go by, and makes one 



PREFACE ix 

long for the privilege of assisting, in some 

humble way, In the great work of training 

>. 
the coming citizens of the world. 

May it be true of this little book that 
wherever it goes " the grass grows greener 
still." Because of its message may some 
little life unfold in greater beauty and per- 
fection. 

Careie S. Newman. 

Toronto, May, 1909. 



Contents 



CHAPTER 

I. The First Gift 

II. Play with the Limbs . 

III. The Falling Game 

IV. The Constructive Faculty . 
V. Christmas in the Home 

VI. A Bowl of Bread and Milk 

VII. The Mirror of Nature 



page 

1 

53 

85 

131 

165 

195 

231 



List of Illustrations 



PAGE 

"In the sunlit garden," etc. — Froebel Frontispiece 

" She would swing the ball gently to and fro " . 8 

" Holding him up before it " 11 

" She came upon Jamie sulking behind a door " . 29 
" Painting the pictures in old magazines occupied 

much of his time " 38 

" The little feet would kick against it " . . . 54 

" Up which the children ran and then slid down " . 66 
" On Saturdays they were allowed to try their 

hands at washing " 77 

" She would raise him by taking hold of his hands " 86 

" Insisted that he should draw nowhere else " . 103 
" The little game of hiding baby's face behind a 

handkerchief " 109 

" for several days the button - hook was seldom 

out of her hands " 115 

" Feeding and caring for these played an important 

part in the daily life of the children " . . 121 
" Sitting on the floor utterly absorbed in the con- 
struction OF SOME WONDERFUL PIECE OF ARCHITEC- 
TURE " 137 

" Pointing out the good points and drawing his at- 
tention TO SOME ERRORS " 151 



" Sitting on the floor at Auntie's feet " . 

" Uncle would show Jamie how to whittle " . 

" Sang their little carols " 

" nursie went with them to carry the presents " 
" So sang Mrs. Brown as she sat with Robert " 
" She took him again and again to see the cows " 
" Each child had from babyhood his own little 

GARDEN " 

" They loved to peep out of the window " 



158 
179 
184 
185 
196 
211 

233 

248 



The 
Kindergarten in the Home 



CHAPTER I 



THE FIRST GIFT 



A little stranger had arrived at the 
Brown homestead and as the dear mother 
lay resting, with the precious bundle, 
her first-born son, asleep beside her, her 
thoughts travelled back over the past 
months of joyful preparation. 

There, in the bureau bought for this 
special purpose, lay the dainty little gar- 
ments it had been such a joy to fashion, 

and side by side with the tiny shirts and 

l 



2 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

jackets lay the coloured Kindergarten 
balls she had made, " food for his heart 
and mind," as she laughingly told her 
friends. Thinking of the balls, she lifted 
her eyes to what she called " the baby's 
shelf," as on it were kept the books she 
and the dear father had studied so ear- 
nestly during the past months. There was 
the valuable book on the care of the little 
body, but more precious still were the 
books telling how to care for the awaken- 
ing mind and soul. Oh, what an earnest 
prayer arose in her heart for blessings on 
the dear friend who had first led her to 
see that in her baby she would have not 
only a little body to care for, but, won- 
derful thought, an immortal soul, and 
that to a very great extent the making 
or marring of that soul lay in her 
hands ! 



THE FIRST GIFT 3 

As week after week she and her husband 
had read and pondered on this gigantic 
thought, the tremendous responsibility of 
parenthood had taken hold of them and 
touched them deeply, so that many times 
a day the prayer rose spontaneously in 
their hearts, " Father, make us fit to have 
a little child to train.'' 

Tears of joy sprang to her eyes as she 
recalled the look on Frank's face as he 
said to her at their last reading, " If every 
man could gain an insight into this teach- 
ing what different lives we should all live. 
I feel bigger and stronger every time I dip 
into one of these books." 

Presently a smile hovered over her face 
as she recalled the laughter and fun they 
had learning to sing nursery rhymes and 
play ball games that they might be ready 
in every way for their little visitor. Then, 



4 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

too, what a depth of meaning they had 
often found in these little songs that at 
first sight seemed so simple! 

" As soon as I am strong enough I must 
gather some of my mother-friends together 
and interest them in this study," was the 
next thought of this awakened mother. 
Frank coming in just then she told Mia 
this thought. He heartily agreed, only 
adding, " Why leave out the fathers? ' 

During the first few weeks of our baby's 
earthly life he nursed and slept, slept and 
nursed as all good babies should. One 
day during this time our mother ran in 
to visit one of her neighbours and found 
her ten-weeks' old baby lying in the cradle 
sucking a rubber nipple. 

" You must get one of these comforts 
for your baby," said her friend. " They 
are comforts indeed: as soon as he gets 



THE FIRST GIFT 5 

restless we just put it in his mouth and 
it keeps him quiet for a long time." 

" No," said our mother thoughtfully, 
" I don't think I shall. It doesn't seem 
to me that is a right principle to work on. 
He isn't physically hungry, why then put 
something into his mouth? It seems to 
me the same thing as trying to satisfy an 
older child who is restless because he is 
unoccupied, by giving him a cake or some 
candy. Is it not training him to seek sat- 
isfaction in the physical nature rather 
than in the intellectual and spiritual? " 

" But how could you give a wee baby 
intellectual and spiritual food? " was the 
astonished answer. 

" Come to our home this evening and I 
will show you the coloured balls and tell 
you about the songs and games we have 
prepared for just this purpose," was her 



6 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

reply as she took her departure happy in 
the thought of sharing with another the 
great light that had come into her own 
life. 

As Baby Robert, as he had been named, 
neared his third month he spent more time 
wide awake. The parents wisely refrained 
from taking him up as soon as he awa- 
kened, and let him lie as long as he was 
content. When he became restless, how- 
ever, they hung the soft red ball where he 
could watch it comfortably, sometimes 
lowering it so that as he tossed his hands 
about he would touch it and set it gently 
in motion. Often they were rewarded by 
chuckles and coos of delight. 

Then the mother began regularly play- 
ing with her baby, using the ball as his 
first plaything, realizing that as he had 
a three-fold nature and that play was the 



THE FIRST GIFT 7 

means provided for educating the heart 
and mind as well as the body in early life, 
this was as essential to his development 
as the daily food and bath and should be 
as carefully planned for. 

With the little fellow sitting on her lap, 
she would swing the ball gently to and 
fro by its string, singing " Here, there," 
or "To and fro," or, suiting the action to 
the words, " Up, Down," " Around and 
around," or " Jump, ball, jump," baby's 
eyes following the movement. At first 
these games were played very gently and 
just for a few minutes at a time, both the 
length of time and the vigour being grad- 
ually increased to keep pace with baby's 
development. 

One of the books studied both before 
and after baby's arrival was " Pedagogics 
of the Kindergarten," by Friedrich Froe- 



8 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

bel, the founder of the Kindergarten. 
This, together with Kindergarten song 




books by various authors, supplied them 
with suggestions for these early games as 
well as later ones. 



THE FIRST GIFT 9 

This playtime soon became a great joy 
not only to baby but to his father and 
mother as well. 

After several weeks' play with the red 
ball, the blue ball was put in its place, 
this followed by the yellow, then the three 
played with together, and they soon be- 
came familiar and dearly loved playmates, 
care being taken to use the colour name 
very often, talking and singing of " Red 
Ball," " Blue Ball," or whichever was be- 
ing used at the time. The orange, green 
and violet were not given him till a later 
period. 

At first father or mother played the 
game, while baby watched, but very soon 
he could join in. He learned to grasp the 
ball by having it put into his tiny palm 
and the fingers closed gently around it, 
and it was not long before he would laugh 



10 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

gaily when one of them took hold of the 
string and pulled it out of his hand. His 
hold became stronger each time this game 
was played, showing that the muscles were 
being developed by the exercise. Care 
was taken that both hands were used in 
these games that both sides of the body 
should be equally developed. 

One day about this time as Father was 
carrying Robert across the room he no- 
ticed his eyes fastened on the pendulum 
of the clock as it swung to and fro. He 
paused and holding him up before it swung 
the little arm in imitation. It soon became 
a regular thing thus to stop and imitate, 
the swing of the pendulum and the tick- 
tock of the clock, then to play that the 
balls were pendulums. 

Robert and his mother spent much time 
every day out of doors, for this she con- 



THE FIRST GIFT 11 

sidered very important for them both, and 
there were few days so stormy that they 




were not able, 
well- wrapped, to 
visit nature for 
at least a few min- 
utes. 

" Above all things," 
said this mother, " I 
do not want our 
child to be a hot- 
house plant." 
So every care was taken both before 



12 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

and after birth to give this little soul a 
strong, healthy body to work with: good 
wholesome food, cleanliness, plenty of 
fresh air, wise physical exercise and high, 
noble thoughts were to them the necessary 
conditions for a healthy body, and these 
they earnestly strove to supply. 

In these outdoor rambles our mother 
found that the objects which first attracted 
her baby were animals. She was surprised 
to find at what an early age the cat, dog, 
chickens and flying birds appealed to him, 
and she began at once to develop this love 
for his " dumb brothers " by herself ex- 
pressing sympathy by means of caresses 
and kind words, often, too, laying the tiny 
hand on the back of doggy or pussy and 
so helping baby to pet them. Crumbs and 
seeds were frequently taken with them to 
draw the birds and chickens they met on 



THE FIRST GIFT 13 

their way close about baby's carriage. 
These little experiences were repeated 
with the balls, indoors, and great was the 
parents' delight when in answer to the 
words, " My little bird," sung by one of 
them, baby would swing his ball. 

When Robert was strong enough to sit 
on a quilt or rug on the floor he would 
often amuse himself with his bright balls 
for a long time, and many a jolly game 
he and father had rolling and tossing the 
balls or playing they were doggies run- 
ning, pussies jumping or birds flying, and 
great was the joy of both parents when 
baby joined his little cooing, humming 
sound to the song. Years after it was the 
proud boast of Robert, " My father and I 
have been chums since long before I could 
walk." 

He used to declare that he could remem- 



14 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

ber these plays of his first year, but that 
was probably because one of his dearest 
life-long treasures was a book containing 
the history of his first seven years. There 
on the first page was the photograph of 
his parents on their wedding day, while 
page two showed them at the time of his 
birth with the house and the room in which 
he was born. Then came photographs of 
himself in many different positions, first 
in long clothes, then in short, asleep in his 
first bed, in his carriage, in mother's arms, 
in father's, sitting alone and so on. Here 
he saw himself taking his first steps, in 
his first boys' suit; saw how he looked 
when he first went to school. Here he 
had a record of the first word he spoke, 
the date when he first walked alone, and 
accounts of his first games, his first pets, 
his first friends, his owu quaint say- 



THE FIRST GIFT 15 

ings, all written in the one dear hand- 
writing. 

" It must have been a lot of bother to 
make this book/' he once said to his 
mother. " Why did you do it? " 

" Well, dear," was the answer, ".I had 
often wished that I knew more of my own 
early life. I questioned with one of our 
Kindergarten writers, ' Should we not bet- 
ter understand what we are if we knew 
how we came to be? ' and so I felt it might 
be a help to you children to have these 
early records." 

When Robert began to creep about, 
which he did very early as he had from 
the first been given plenty of opportunity 
to kick and toss about his little limbs, his 
father made a fence which could in a mo- 
ment be set up in nursery or sitting room 
or in fine weather on the lawn, and as 



16 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

quickly taken down, and in this fold with 
his dear woolly lamb, his rag-doll and his 
bright balls, he was as happy as a king 
while mother sat near by with her sewing 
or moved about attending to household 
duties. 

When the parents found that baby was 
pleased with a sharp noise such as he 
could make by pounding with a spoon they 
knew he was ready for Froebel's second 
gift, the wooden sphere, cube and cylinder. 
So one day when father was rolling one 
of the soft balls back and forth to baby, 
who was being helped by mother to per- 
form his part of the game, he exchanged 
it for the wooden sphere and both were 
interested to see the puzzled look on baby's 
face as he heard the sound on the bare 
floor. It was added to his playthings and 
many of the old games played with it and 



THE FIRST GIFT 17 

some new ones added, the addition of 
ability to make sounds giving great pleas- 
ure. 

One of the games of which he never 
tired was to watch the sphere roll round 
and round on a plate as it was inclined 
first this way and then that, while father 
or mother sang, 

" Around, Around ; 
How happy now am I. 
Around Around, 
I turn now full of glee. 
Be happy thou like me," 

or some other rhyme improvised for the 
purpose. 

Robert had been playing with the balls 
for some little time when his mother no- 
ticed that he put out his hand as she car- 
ried him past the round top of the balus- 
trade post, and seemed much pleased when 



18 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

she stopped and let him touch it, showing 
that he was beginning to notice the forms 
about him and pick out the familiar ones. 
Sometime before this he had put out his 
little hands towards bright-coloured ob- 
jects like his balls. 

When the wooden cube was put amongst 
his playthings he soon discovered that it 
would not move like his ball, which ran 
away from him at the slightest touch. 

With the cubes and cylinder he began 
his first building and amused himself for 
longer and longer periods piling one upon 
another and then pushing them down. 

A lady who made the Browns a visit at 
this time was greatly interested in little 
Robert and his first educational steps and 
had many questions to ask about it. u It 
seems to me," she said one day, "a most 
sensible idea to choose from out the great 



THE FIRST GIFT 19 

chaos of forms and colours with which the 
civilized child finds himself surrounded 
when he awakens in this new world, those 
which are typical and present them one 
at a time so that he may get a few clear, 
distinct impressions in place of many 
vague, indistinct ones. It certainly must 
be a wonderful help to the young mind 
and build up the brain in a way which 
would be impossible otherwise. Then, too, 
to connect the sensation received through 
the senses as he looks at and handles his 
gifts with the proper terms and this by 
means of song, the voice of love, is a most 
happy thought." 

Eobert was six months old when Mrs. 
Brown decided to take into their home for 
a few months the three children of her 
widowed sister while she was absent in a 
distant part of the country. " I am the 



20 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

more pleased to clo this because I have 
always felt that Mary did not understand 
her children and was making some serious 
mistakes in their training, and this will 
give me an opportunity to study them and 
so be better able to advise her/' said she 
to her husband. 

" And the effort to understand and help 
them will be the very best preparation for 
understanding our own children," was his 
answer. 

The three little visitors were Jamie, who 
had just passed his sixth birthday, Lulu, 
four years of age, and May, aged two and 
a half. 

The nurse who had been with them since 
Jamie's babyhood came to help take care 
of them. She was a kind-hearted Scotch 
woman who loved the children dearly but 
thought it unwise to show her love. She 



THE FIRST GIFT 21 

had been brought up on a system of re- 
pression and strove to apply the same 
methods with her young charges. " Chil- 
dren must be obedient," were the words 
most often on her lips, and Mrs. Gray was 
often congratulated on having such an ex- 
cellent nurse who took almost entire charge 
of the children, leaving her much time to 
devote to church and society duties. 

Up to her light Nursie was a most ex- 
cellent woman and as a mother's assistant 
would have been most valuable, relieving 
her of much of the physical care and strain 
that she might be free to nourish the 
higher nature of her children, but what 
hireling however competent can take a 
mother's place? Alas, how many of God's 
little ones are bountifully, often luxuri- 
ously, cared for in all external ways, while 
their inner selves are stunted, dwarfed, 



22 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

starved for lack of intelligent care and 
understanding ! 

Nursie's chief concern was to keep her 
little charges fresh and clean and to pro- 
tect their bodies from all danger and dis- 
ease; it was her proud boast that no 
scratch or bruise Avas ever to be found 
upon them. 

That children grow by means of activity 
of body and mind; that experimenting, 
testing, trying their wings was an abso- 
lute necessity for full development, and 
that in developing we must often make 
mistakes, and do a certain amount of 
stumbling and falling, was a theory of 
which she had never dreamed. She, good 
woman, felt guilty if for a moment one of 
them strayed out of her sight or met with 
the slightest accident. " Always ask me 
before you do anything; then you won't 



THE FIRST GIFT 23 

get into trouble," was her kindly meant 
but unwise advice. 

However, of late even she had begun to 
feel that something was wrong, whether 
with the children or herself she hardly 
knew. Master Jamie was sullen and dis- 
contented, Lulu often so stubborn she 
could do nothing with her, while Baby 
May seemed the very personification of 
mischief the moment her eye was off her. 

So when Mrs. Brown with much trep- 
idation suggested that as soon as the chil- 
dren felt at home she should take charge 
of them during the morning and leave her 
free to assist with the housework and sew- 
ing, much to her surprise Nursie made no 
objection, though she said, "I'm afraid, 
Ma'am, you'll find them a handful. They 
are very hard to manage, though they've 
been so carefully brought up." 



24 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

During the first days while Nursie was 
in full charge both Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
kept their eyes and ears wide open in their 
anxiety to understand the children and 
the particular needs of each. With their 
knowledge of and sympathy with child- 
nature they were not long in putting their 
ringer on the source of the sullenness and 
discontent almost habitually pictured on 
Jamie's face, and of the stubborn fits 
Nursie complained of in Lulu. 

They saw that Nursie 's training con- 
sisted very largely of an almost continuous 
series of " Don'ts." When the children 
were taken out of doors they were nat- 
urally seized with a desire to examine 
everything within sight, to run and jump 
and caper as all young things should, but 
Nursie 's idea was to take them for a walk, 
little May holding her hand and Lulu and 



THE FIRST GIFT 25 

Jamie walking before her, according to 
her ideas, " Like a little lady and gentle- 
man." Any attempt to run on ahead, to 
jump off the sidewalk, to examine the 
hundreds of curious things in the grass 
or the little ponds, was quickly repressed, 
" They'd make themselves hot, or soil their 
clothes, or fall and hurt themselves." And 
so we have the sight, sad indeed to one 
who understands child-nature, its needs 
and grand possibilities, but which may be 
seen in any city on any pleasant summer 
day, of little children starched and be- 
frilled, compelled to walk up and down the 
board walks as sedately as if they were 
eighty years of age, blind and deaf to the 
wonders with which the great world is 
everywhere teeming, God's lesson books 
spread out before the childish eyes, Nature 
crying out " Look, touch, handle, learn," 



26 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

but ignorance commanding " Leave it 
alone, you 11 soil your clothes/' 

Mrs. Brown, with Robert in his carriage 
accompanied Nurse and the children on 
one of these walks. A few days afterward 
she said, " Nurse, suppose I take the chil- 
dren out this morning so you can sort the 
clothes and see to the mending. But put 
on some plain clothes and their stout shoes, 
so that it won't matter if they should soil 
them." Nurse looked her disapproval of 
the latter request, for of all things she 
loved to see them daintily dressed when 
they went out, but the prospect of a morn- 
ing free from the children, together with 
the quiet determination in Mrs. Brown's 
face and voice, kept her silent. 

When the children returned from their 
walk with rosy cheeks and tongues which 
could not move quickly enough in their 



THE FIRST GIFT 27 

desire to tell Uncle Frank, whom they had 
met on their way home, of all they had seen 
and done, they looked askance at their 
dusty shoes and dirty hands and said in 
a whisper, " What will Nursie say? " 

But Auntie only laughed, and leading 
them round to the side door helped them 
off with their shoes, saying, " Now run 
up to Nursie and ask her to wash your 
hands and faces and give you your slip- 
pers." 

After lunch Lulu as well as May, much 
to Nursie's surprise, was ready for a nap, 
and Jamie amused himself for a long time 
sorting the leaves, stones and flowers which 
he had brought home. Under Uncle's di- 
rection he made holes in the top of a box 
for a home for a beautiful caterpillar he 
had found and, joy of joys to the hungry 
young naturalist— and what child is not 



28 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

that? — had not only been allowed but en- 
couraged to bring home and keep as a pet. 

The next day and for several days after- 
wards the rain poured down, so instead of 
a walk Mrs. Brown had to devise indoor 
work and play. Early in the morning she 
came upon Jamie sulking behind a door. 
She waited until Nurse had gone into an- 
other room, then followed and inquired 
about it. 

" He has some nonsense about going 
out to get leaves for a caterpillar or some- 
thing of that kind. Of course he can't 
go out in the rain/' was the reply. 

Mrs. Brown made no comment, but after 
some pleasant chat about the style for 
Lulu's new dress — a subject very dear to 
Nursie's heart— in which she gave up her 
own idea and allowed Nurse to have her 
way, thinking, " It will pay to give in in 



30 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

these external matters for the sake of win- 
ning in the higher/ ' she said, " Don't you 
think we might put on Jamie's coat and 
rubbers and let him run out for the leaves? 
It won't take a minute if I go with him 
and it will make kim happy." Winning a 
somewhat reluctant agreement, she ran off 
to comfort Jamie's heart, whispering to 
her husband as she passed him in the hall, 
" You can't imagine how diplomatic I'm 
growing." 

Coming upstairs, broom and dust-pan 
in hand, later in the morning jSTursie was 
surprised and mystified at the happy scene 
in the nursery. Baby Eobert sat in the 
centre of the group on the floor holding 
one of his beloved balls, and from time to 
time imitating the others, who just now 
were listening breathlessly to Auntie as 
she told them a wonderful story about 



THE FIRST GIFT 31 

Jamie 's caterpillar; how if he fed it every 
day with some of the green leaves he had 
found it upon, it would spin a tiny nest 
in which it would go to sleep, then by and 
by wake up no longer a creeping cater- 
pillar but a glorious butterfly such as they 
had often seen flying about. The children 
then played that the balls were caterpillars 
crawling on the ground, eating green 
leaves, then spinning a cocoon and going 
to sleep to finally wake up beautiful but- 
terflies sipping honey from imaginary flow- 
ers made by the left hand while the right 
hand held the ball, accompanying the game 
with the little song " Fuzzy little Cater- 
pillar/ 9 found in the Finger-Play Book 
by Emilie Poullson, the pictures of which 
greatly interested them. 

Presently Lulu jumped up, and running 
to a bouquet of real flowers on the table 



m KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

let her butterfly (ball) sip the honey there, 
and the other children quickly followed. 

" I didn't know there was honey in flow- 
ers/' said Jamie. 

To which Auntie answered by breaking 
off a nasturtium bloom and letting him 
taste the drop of sweet juice hidden in it. 
She then suggested that each should find 
about the room all the objects of the same 
colour as the ball he held, making the 
agreement that they should not touch any- 
thing, but tell her what they found. 

While she was busy with Robert a gay 
party of discoverers was at work in this 
and adjoining rooms, and there were con- 
tinual shouts of " Auntie, this curtain's 
red; " " Auntie, your pincushion has some 
blue on it," etc. 

As it was now time for Robert's morn- 
ing nap, Auntie called the children to her, 



THE FIRST GIFT 33 

and, giving to each of them a saucer full 
of Kindergarten beads (large wooden beads 
of the six colours of the spectrum, indigo 
being omitted as too difficult for the chil- 
dren to discriminate) and a shoe-string, 
she left them to the ever-fascinating 
stringing of beads. 

This box of beads was a great source of 
joy all through the winter to the two 
younger children, and for sometime to 
Jamie also. 

At first simply stringing the beads satis- 
fied them, afterwards they enjoyed having 
a set task given them, such as, thread all 
the red, all the green, all the yellow; one 
yellow, one violet; two blue, three red, and 
repeat till the string is full. Sometimes 
they played the beads were fruit and 
picked out the oranges, the red apples or 
the grapes, either stringing them or ar- 



34 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

ranging them in rows. Jamie liked to 
play he was store-keeper and sell the dif- 
ferent fruits and vegetables to the others. 
Then, that they might learn the source of 
these things, Auntie would suggest that 
they play they were trees or vines and 
fasten the coloured balls on for fruit. 

The beads are not all spheres, but cubes 
and cylinders as well, and sometimes the 
children came to Auntie and Nurse as they 
sat sewing, selling spools (cylinders) of 
coloured silk or boxes (cubes) containing 
all sorts of wonderful things, when Auntie 
would say, " Yes, I'll take four spools of 
green silk," or " Give me five boxes of 
pins, please, three blue and two yellow," 
and then help the little tradesman to pick 
out the correct number, giving him thus in 
his play much exercise in counting and so 
preparing him for his later school work. 



THE FIRST GIFT 35 

Little May liked to have two boxes to 
fill and refill with the beads. 

Adding the large cubes and cylinder of 
the Second Gift gave many more possibil- 
ities in the way of store-keeping and other 
games invented by the children, helped out 
by occasional suggestions from Aunt or 
Uncle. Imitating the work going on in the 
home, the cube was sometimes a stove on 
which bead kettles and saucepans gaily 
boiled, while water from the cylinder stand- 
ing beside it and connected by sticks for 
water pipes was freely drawn to wash the 
bead dishes, the lively sphere making a 
most active and busy cook; on a sec- 
ond cube were carefully arranged the jars 
of jelly and preserves which Lulu dis- 
played with housewifely pride. Mrs. 
Brown never failed to enter with genuine 
interest into such pla}^ realizing that by 



36 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

her sympathy she was watering seeds 
which were well worth nurturing in view 
of the fruit they would yield in later life. 
The child's actual powers are so limited 
that without this imaginative play the 
spirit would be sadly cramped and fet- 
tered. 

The long oblong box in which the Second 
Gift forms are kept, with the round and 
squared sticks which come with it, made 
excellent boats and carts to be loaded with 
all sorts of merchandise and dragged about 
the room. 

Mrs. Brown was careful, too, to talk 
much with the children in their play in 
order to assist them in taking possession 
of the kingdom of language. Knowing 
well the " pangs of word hunger," she was 
anxious to give them every assistance in 
gaining freedom of speech, power to ex- 



THE FIRST GIFT 37 

press well in language their growing ideals. 
With this thought in view both she and Mr. 
Brown were careful in conversation with 
the children to speak clearly and distinctly 
as well as to use the proper terms, and as 
a consequence their children were noted 
for their clear enunciation and ready flow 
of language, and so a constant joy to their 
teachers. Slovenly language was as much 
discouraged as slovenly manners. 

When Uncle came home one evening 
with several bunches of sticks of various 
lengths, which he had bought for a few 
cents at a Kindergarten shop, he showed 
them how to build famous fences by stand- 
ing cubes and cylinders with the holes on 
top and inserting a stick in each, and to 
represent human beings by standing a 
cylinder on a cube, a sphere on the cylin- 
der, and running a stick through the three. 



38 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

The latter were easily moved about and 
henceforth figured in many a play. 

Jamie's heart was delighted about this 
time by the present of a box of paints and 
a quantity of cheap water-colour paper, 
and he was continually finding something 



wS*^ 




in his walks or play out of doors which he 
would bring in and try to paint. Painting 
the pictures in old magazines occupied 
much of his time and drew forth many 
questions as to the meaning of the pictures. 
What he enjoyed most of all, however, was 
painting imaginary scenes and telling all 
about them. 



THE FIRST GIFT 39 

" ,Wliat an excellent preparation for fu- 
ture composition writing. He'll have 
plenty of ideas in his head and also know 
how to express them," said a teacher who 
was calling one afternoon. " Why don't 
you get a black-board for him? That 
would develop the larger freer movement so 
important in writing and drawing, as well 
as give him greater scope for expression." 
The visible results of this pictorial work 
were naturally very crude, but out of crude 
beginnings grow many beautiful things, and 
his Aunt and Uncle knowing that the real 
results of all such work were not visible 
but wrought into the fibre of his life and 
character, treated all his little productions 
with respect, and many a slip of paper 
with scrawlings on it was sent to the ab- 
sent mother with glowing descriptions of 
her boy's unfolding. They also asked a 



40 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

friend who was something of an artist to 
give him some help in using his paints 
and pencils. 

" What have you done to that boy 1 ? 
How he has changed,— I should hardly 
have known him for the same boy," ex- 
claimed a friend who had not seen him for 
several months. 

" Given him something to live for. Put 
' do ' in place of ' don't/ that's all," was 
the laughing answer. 

Besides stringing beads the little ones 
greatly enjoyed stringing straws and col- 
oured papers. Mrs. Brown gave them first 
red papers, then blue, then yellow, and so 
on, for she wished them to gain clear im- 
pressions of colour. The interest in this 
work was heightened by the suggestion 
that the chains be used to decorate the 
nursery, and great was their joy as the 



THE FIRST GIFT 41 

chains grew longer and longer. Short 
threads were given them, and each as it 
was finished joined to the last, so that, to 
their eyes at any rate, the room became 
more and more beautiful. What a pity 
that a child should ever be allowed to con- 
sider himself too small to do anything to 
help and bless the world; that the desire 
to help, to be one with others by sharing 
in the work of the home, which awakens 
so early in the child-heart, should be 
crushed by the failure to supply the means 
for giving it expression! 

How ruthlessly we often nip off the tiny 
buds as they appear in the life of the little 
human plant and then how we deplore the 
lack of the full-grown flower in later life! 

How the self-respect of these children 
grew as they felt that they were doing 
something really useful! Jamie's part was 



42 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

to fold and cut the papers for the little 
ones to string, though he sometimes also 
took a hand in the stringing, Mrs. Brown 
seeing here an opportunity to awaken and 
develop a desire to help the smaller and 
weaker. 

Meanwhile the one caterpillar had had 
many brothers brought in to keep him com- 
pany till the shoe-box had been outgrown 
and Uncle had shown Jamie how to make 
a caterpillar-cage by nailing uprights of 
wood in the four corners of a soap-box and 
then stretching mosquito netting over it. 
The bottom of the cage was covered with 
a layer of earth kept moist, and the cater- 
pillars bountifully supplied with fresh 
leaves each day. Many other insects were 
discovered by bright eyes and placed in the 
cage that they might be watched. 

Mr. Brown felt that this early develop- 



THE FIRST GIFT 43 

ment of a love for, and an interest in all 
of God's creatures, together with a feeling 
of responsibility towards them was a most 
important part of education; that a knowl- 
edge of these lower forms of life was a 
necessary step in learning to know our- 
selves and the Creator in whose image we 
are made. 

Jamie was very anxious to catch some 
butterflies, but when it was explained to 
him that it was almost impossible to touch 
their delicate bodies, however careful one 
might be, without injuring them, he was 
content to watch them without gaining pos- 
session, learning there-by one of life's 
deepest lessons. 

The interest in the life of caterpillars and 

butterflies lasted for a long time, for the 

caterpillars in the cage were obliging 

• enough to spin a number of cocoons, and it 



44 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

was a common sight in the Brown house- 
hold at that time to find Uncle and the 
three children crawling about the floor as 
caterpillars, then going to sleep and waking 
up butterflies, while Auntie with Robert on 
her knee sang the song, often at the same 
time playing that his hands were the cater- 
pillar or butterfly. The beautiful story of 
the caterpillar in Miss Harrison's book, 
" In Storyland," was told and retold, Aunt 
and Uncle feeling that this symbolic play 
would greatly enrich the lives of the chil- 
dren. 

" Indeed," said Mr. Brown one evening 
as he took up the book, " I fail to see how 
any one can be too old or too wise to gain 
fresh inspiration from such books." 

Watching the children from Robert up, 
as they played with the type forms of the 
First and Second Gifts and noting their 



THE FIRST GIFT 45 

interest in finding objects like them, Mrs. 
Brown was struck with their power to 
awaken and develop observation, the chil- 
dren seeming to be daily more observant, 
more alive in every way. 

She realized, however, that taking in 
from without is but one side of education, 
that there must be continual giving out, 
" uttering or outering of the inner/ ' if 
development is to be complete and har- 
monious. With this thought in mind she 
began a search for clay with which to 
model. 

A friend told her that she could have it 
dug from the ground near by, but advised 
her to send to a Kindergarten store and 
get some specially prepared for the pur- 
pose. She did so and received in reply a 
package of clay flour with directions for 
preparing it for use. 



46 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

A crock of clay was therefore added to 
her nursery equipment and supplied many 
happy hours of work and play, even baby 
Robert taking pleasure in squeezing, pat- 
ting and rolling a lump. 

Many and wonderful were the creations 
which those young brains evolved from the 
clay, there seemed literally no end to its 
possibilities. Every object they had ever 
seen or thought about took form and body 
as their hands became more and more skil- 
ful, while the growing light in their eyes 
and the joy in their faces, as well as their 
own feelings when they, too, took a lump 
and i ' talked ' ' with it, helped Mr. and Mrs. 
Brown to enter more fully into Froebel's 
words in the Education of Man : i ' The spirit 
of God hovered over chaos and moved it, 
and stones and plants, beasts and man 
took form and separate being and life. 



THE FIRST GIFT 47 

God created man in his own image; there- 
fore man should create and bring forth 
like God. 

" His spirit, the spirit of man, should 
hover over the shapeless and move it that 
it may take shape and form, a distinct 
being and life of its own. This is the high 
meaning, the deep significance, the great 
purpose of work and industry, of pro- 
ductive and creative activity. We become 
truly Godlike in diligence and industry, 
in working and doing, which are accom- 
panied by the clear perception or even by 
the vaguest feeling that thereby we repre- 
sent the inner in the outer; that we give 
body to spirit and form to thought; that 
we render visible the invisible; that we 
impart an outward, finite, transient being 
to life in the spirit." 

Another occupation which the children 



48 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

greatly enjoyed was pasting squares, cir- 
cles and triangles of coloured paper to 
form borders and designs. After they had 
grasped the under-lying law of design, i. e. 
that the opposites must be alike, and had 
learned to follow this law by beginning 
with a centre and pasting something first 
at the back, then at the front, then at the 
right and left, they became very skilful 
in originating designs, the best of which 
were used as a border along one side of 
their playroom. 

Jamie became quite expert too in cut- 
ting forms from paper. Beginning with 
the circle, or picture of their balls, he pro- 
ceeded to fruit, vegetables and different 
kinds of leaves, learning in this way the 
names and special characteristics of each, 
finally attempting birds, animals and even 
landscapes. These he carefully pasted 



THE FIRST GIFT 49 

into what he called his scrap-book, a school 
note-book with a bright cover. This book 
when completed was to be sent to mother 
as a birthday present. 

They also sewed pictures of their balls 
and toys, in fact of everything which spe- 
cially interested them, on cards with col- 
oured wool and sent them to mother that 
she might share in all their pleasures. 

This constant outpicturing of their inner 
unfolding life was a great source of 
growth, and of understanding both of 
themselves and of the external world, for 
as Froebel says, " If man would know 
himself truly he must represent himself 
externally, must place himself over against 
himself as it were." 

It was very interesting to their Aunt 
and Uncle to notice how more and more 
each child's productions showed his indi- 



50 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

yiduality both in the subjects chosen for 
representation and in the manner of ex- 
pression. Though sharing a common life 
no two were affected in exactly the same 
way; one passed by almost unnoticed what 
challenged the interest of another. By 
this means also they learned to understand 
the special needs of each and were able 
more wisely to guide and help the chil- 
dren. 



" Only the quiet secluded sanctuary of the home 
can give hack to us the welfare of mankind. In the 
foundation of every new family the Heavenly Father 
eternally working the welfare of the human race, 
speaks to man through the heaven he has opened in 
the heart of its founders. With the foundation of 
every new family there is issued to mankind and to 
each individual human being the call to represent 
humanity in pure development to represent man in 
his ideal purity/' — Froebel. 



CHAPTER II 

PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 

Mrs. Brown's great desire for her child 
was that he might be as free as possible 
from anything which would limit or dwarf 
his unfolding life. With this ideal in 
view she took great care that his clothing 
should at all times protect his body with- 
out binding it or in any way interfering 
with his movements. Her first considera- 
tion in dressing him was his comfort. 

Her study of Froebel had led her to see 
that her baby's stretching and kicking 
after his morning bath was an unconscious 
call to her mother-heart " to nurture, wait 

53 



54 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

upon, strengthen and develop the life stir- 
ring within, and to do so in snch a way 
as to lead him as soon as possible to self- 




knowledge.' ' She therefore planned to 

give him every day an opportunity to 

freely kick unimpeded by long skirts or 
tight napkin. 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 55 

Laying him on his back on the bed she 
would place her hand or breast so that 
the little feet would kick against it and 
was surprised to find how much harder 
he kicked when he found this obstruction 
in his way than without it. 

This daily kicking she knew would 
strengthen and develop his body, but her 
great longing was that all sides of his 
nature, his mind and heart as well as his 
body, should develop fully and freely, 
therefore she was never satisfied with 
any exercise that developed body alone, 
so to the action she added the explanatory 
song. 

" Up and down, and in and out, 
Toss the little limbs about ; 
Kick the pretty dimpled feet — 
That's the way to grow, my sweet ! 



56 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

This way and that, 
With a pat-a-pat-pat, 
With one, two, three, 
For each little knee. 

" By and by in work and play, 
They'll be busy all the day ; 
Wading in the water clear, 
Running swift for mother dear. 

So this way and that, 

With a pat-a-pat-pat, 

And one, two, three, 

Tor each little knee." 

As given in the Blow translation of Froe- 
bel's Mother Play, realizing that long 
before he conld understand the words the 
love expressed in her voice and the 
thought in her mind were making an im- 
pression on the awakening mind and heart 
of her child. To vary the game she some- 
times took hold of the little legs as he 
threw them out and gave them a little 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 57 

push as he drew them back, as suggested 
by Mrs. Proudfoot in " A Year with the 
Mother-Play." 

Before very long Robert could play the 
game by himself if a pillow were placed 
at the foot of the crib for him to kick 
against, leaving Mother free to tidy the 
room or attend to other duties as she 
sang. 

A little later the noise made by kicking 
a newspaper spread over the pillow gave 
him great pleasure, while one thrown en- 
tirely over him as he lay on the bed or 
floor drew out much vigorous tossing of 
arms and legs and gurgles of delight when 
he succeeded in freeing himself from it, 
and again saw Mother's smiling face and 
heard the words of encouragement with 
which she was always so ready when he 
had put forth effort to overcome. 



58 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Meditating on the effort made even in 
baby-hood to overcome difficulties and the 
evident joy in achievement, she was led 
to understand the pleasure of boys in 
wrestling, climbing, running races and so 
forth, and to feel how necessary such 
activity was in the development of a 
strong, hardy, self-reliant character as well 
as in bodily growth, and what a mistake 
we make in forbidding or attempting to 
restrain such activity. 

An effort was being made at that time 
to fit up the school play-grounds with 
gymnastic apparatus for both boys and 
girls, and also to have them open on Sat- 
urdays and through the summer vacation 
with a competent person in charge, and 
to these schemes Mr. Brown now gladly 
gave his time and thought, wondering 
how he had ever been indifferent to these 



■ 

PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 59 

matters which now seemed of such great 
importance. 

At a meeting called to discuss the using 
of school funds for this purpose, at which 
the opposition party was very strong, such 
inspiration was awakened through the 
reading by him of part of the chapter on 
" Play as an Educational Factor " in Mr. 
Hughes' " Froebel's Educational Laws 
for all Teachers/' that not only was the 
motion carried, but many parents and 
teachers were led to read this splendid 
educational work, to the great benefit 
not only of their children but of them- 
selves, and the few who had long been 
working for a truer system of education 
felt that the new day was indeed dawn- 
ing. 

When the little cousins joined the 
Brown family they were greatly inter- 



60 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

ested in this game of Baby's and loved to 
help him play it. 

Mrs. Brown showed them the picture 
which accompanies the song in the Mother 
Play book, and was greatly interested in 
their many questions about it. The first 
thing they noticed was the Mother playing 
with her baby just as Auntie played with 
Robert, and they were intensely interested 
when it was explained to them that this 
was a little German baby, for a dear 
friend had gone some time before to Ger- 
many and had sent them from there some 
beautiful post-cards, and that his mother 
was playing that bab} r 's feet were stamp- 
ing oil out of poppies for the lamp which 
burned for him at night just as the big 
wheels did in the mills of that country. 

They became so interested in the chil- 
dren playing with the toy water-wheel in 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 61 

the picture that Uncle was called upon 
to assist in making one like it, and a happy 
afternoon was spent playing with it in a 
little stream on a hill near by. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown gained much help 
from this game in guiding and training 
their little brood, and the commentaries 
written thereon. It showed them so 
plainly the danger of allowing children's 
activity to expend itself in aimless, im- 
pulsive actions instead of guiding it into 
proper channels, as well as that of at- 
tempting to repress it. They saw that a 
child must be active if he is to develop 
normally, but that he is not wise enough 
to guide this tremendous force unaided; 
that instead of simply saying " stop " or 
" be quiet " when his activity is leading 
him in wrong directions we should turn 
it into new and better channels. 



62 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Miss Blow's " Letters to a Mother " 
fell in their way about this time and 
opened up to them a whole new world of 
insight into the meaning of life and 
broadened and deepened their lives in a 
wonderful way. 

" Oh, that all parents could be led to 
study and understand these truths! " ex- 
claimed Mrs. Brown more than once. 

The chapter in this book dealing with 
the " Kicking Song," or " Play with the 
Limbs," and bearing the significant title 
" Self Making," with its inspiring mes- 
sage, " The characteristic quality of hu- 
manity is precisely the ability to over- 
come defect," and " Our conscious and 
voluntary lives are merely island peaks 
rising out of an unconscious ocean of be- 
ing," stirred them deeply and was read 
and re-read many times. 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 63 

Nursie's plan with the children had 
been to make everything easy for them 
and to excuse faults on the ground that 
one was naturally discontented, another 
nervous or excitable and so on. She knew 
nothing of the bracing theory that man 
is in this world on purpose to overcome 
defect and rise to ever higher and higher 
ground, and that there is no other source 
of true joy than that of overcoming, and 
therefore she tried " to shield the chil- 
dren rather than to arm them," and the 
poor children suffered in consequence. 

For alas, like many children, they were 
practically motherless, for she who bore 
them was so taken up with interests out- 
side the home that she was in truth a 
stranger to her children's real lives, 
though she would have much resented 
such an accusation! 

k 



64 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

She always meant to have more time 
for the children by and by, and like many 
persons made the mistake of thinking that 
the first years were not very important 
except for physical growth, and that good 
schools and teachers later on would make 
up for anything missed in early life. 

Thank God, this all too prevalent sup- 
position is fast losing ground, and more 
and more the world is coming to realize, 
what the sages of all times have taught, 
namely the tremendous importance of the 
first years! 

For too long have we imagined that 
anyone could lay the foundation, provided 
an artist could be secured to put on the 
finishing touches, and so ignorant nurse- 
maids have been allowed to answer as 
best they could the first questioning of 
the soul as it finds itself in this new and 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 65 

untried world, and young, inexperienced 
teachers have been placed in charge of the 
primary grades in our schools! 

While little Robert was given exercise 
for mind, body and heart by means of 
games with his limbs and with his balls, 
accompanied by caressing words, songs 
and smiles, the older children were helped 
to gain theirs by much play and work 
both indoors and out. 

The yard with its big swing, its see-saw, 
its trees and ladders to climb, its sliding- 
board (a wide board inclined against the 
wall, up which the children ran and then 
slid down), its bats and balls, sand-pile 
and garden-beds, was such an attractive 
place, so full of life and activity, joyous 
shouts and laughter, that other children 
in the neighbourhood soon found their 
way to the gate and looked longingly in. 



66 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Nursie would have sent them away, but 
Mrs. Brown's heart was too large and her 
sense of brotherhood too keen, to shut out 
any child. 




Why, Nursie," she 
said laughingly as the 
former was calling Lulu 
and Jamie back when 
they ran to speak to 
two little ones who 
were peeping in, "I thought I over- 
heard you telling the children the story of 
the good Samaritan just this morning, and 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 67 

impressing upon them the principle of 
neighbourliness; they are only seizing the 
first opportunity of carrying out your 
teaching, — don't stop them/' and going 
to the gate she invited the little ones 
in. 

Later on she explained, " I don't intend 
to throw our children indiscriminately 
amongst all the children of the neighbour- 
hood; I have made the agreement that no 
child shall come in unless you or I invite 
him, so they will only be here while one 
of us is present when no harm can be 
done. Our children need more companion- 
ship, and while providing it we may be 
enabled to help some other little soul, 
which we must not refuse to do when the 
opportunity is given us. I never could 
understand how children could be brought 
up as Christians and at the same time 



68 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

debarred from friendly intercourse with 
the children about them. 

" My one regret is that we have no 
Kindergarten where all the children could 
meet daily under the wise supervision of 
a trained kindergartner. 

" Jamie especially is craving more free 
companionship with boys of his own age 
and we must provide it." 

So instead of four children there were 
more often to be found a score or so of 
little ones at play in the yard, or, in bad 
weather, the big playroom upstairs, and 
out of this small beginning there grew in 
the course of the next few years a Kin- 
dergarten, Primary School and Training 
Class which were the pride of the neigh- 
bourhood. 

It was some little time before Nursie 
could be quite reconciled to occasional 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 69 

bruises, scratches and cuts on the little 
bodies which she had so carefully guarded, 
but both Mr. and Mrs. Brown felt that to 
learn to suffer small injuries without com- 
plaint was one of life's greatest lessons 
and a habit which could not be too early 
inculcated. 

It was a proud moment for them when 
Jamie came sucking a cut finger and 
bravery keeping back the tears as he 
exclaimed, " I don't care if I did cut my 
finger, I made a boat anyhow." 

" That's the stuff heroes are made of," 
said Mr. Brown in an undertone to his 
wife. It had taken months of encouraging 
and cheering on, with some laughing at, 
together with many stories of brave boys 
and men who were indifferent to suffer- 
ing when they had some great object to 
achieve, to bring him to this point, for 



70 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

when he came to them he was a veritable 
little coward, crying over the slightest 
bump or knock and ready to give up any 
scheme at the faintest suggestion of pos- 
sible danger. 

So when Lulu fell off the see-saw and 
scratched her knee, instead of fussing over 
her and telling her not to get on it again, 
her Aunt and Uncle would say, " Never 
mind, little girl, you're too big to cry, it 
will stop smarting just in a minute/ ' and 
helping her on again would show her how 
to hold more tightly and watch more 
carefully. 

It took much talking and a good deal 
of scheming and planning on Mrs. Brown's 
part to break Nursie of the habit of doing 
for the children instead of teaching them 
to do for themselves, thus making them 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 71 

dependent slaves instead of developing 
self - reliance and self - reverence. She 
would rather pick up and put away for 
them than train them to do such things, 
but this Mrs. Brown would not allow, for 
she wished them early to feel a joyful 
sense of responsibility and power to ac- 
complish. 

Low shelves and hooks were arranged 
in the Nursery and the children expected 
to hang up their coats and hats and put 
away their toys. The doing of this was 
not made a burden but rather a joy by 
means of games, songs and stories. When 
beads and blocks were scattered on the 
floor Auntie would call for squirrels to 
gather nuts and fill their holes (boxes) 
and praise the one who was quickest and 
gathered the most, or changing the words 



72 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
of the song " Merry Little Men " in the 
dearly loved Finger Play Book, to suit 
the circumstance, she would sing,— 

" Oh ! where are the merry, merry little men 
To help me work to-day, 
And where are the merry, merry little men 
To put these toys away ? " 

Sometimes when there was reluctance 
to help on the part of some of the little 
men, the one who came first or did most 
would be surprised by an unexpected 
lump of sugar or other mark of approval. 

The children were early trained to look 
upon their fingers as a little band of 
workers over which they had control, and 
as an aid to this were taught the fascinat- 
ing Finger Songs of the Mother Play 
Book. 

Mrs. Brown early discovered what a 
great aid music could be in controlling 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 73 

and guiding the little ones. When clouds 
gathered as they would at times, and 
thunder began to roll and lightning to 
flash, a merry song or two quickly dis- 
pelled the storm and brought back the 
sunshine; the children went off willingly 
and happily to bed if Auntie or Uncle 
played a lively march for them to march 
upstairs to; when they found it difficult 
to settle down to proper order and quiet- 
ness for meals Auntie would begin to sing 
and the children join in the verse: 

" Softly, softly, softly, 
We take our places at our meal 
Softly, softly, softly, 
As quiet children love to do," 

and the quiet tune would quickly bring 
order out of disorder without tears or feel- 
ings of resentment. 



74 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Tears sprang to Mrs. Brown's eyes 
when little May ran to her one day with 
a very red face and said, " Auntie, sing 
' Dod (God) is Love/ tos me tocked 
(chocked)/' for she felt the little one was 
indeed learning all unconsciously where 
to find comfort and relief, and as she held 
the little form close to her with a whis- 
pered " God loves May," ere she sent her 
off to her play, she felt abundantly re- 
warded for the time and thought she 
had spent on these songs and plays. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown had been much 
impressed by the following thought given 
by Mr. Snider in his commentary on the 
Mother Play. " One of the great dif- 
ficulties in the training of the child comes 
from the fact that he receives food, rai- 
ment and shelter and perhaps a great deal 
more without any effort on his part. 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 75 

" A necessary donation, but it has a 
dangerous side; the child gets to think- 
ing that he has a permanent right to 
such support. He has done nothing, has 
been taught to do nothing for what he 
obtains from his parents. Self-reliance 
is thus undermined by the domestic rela- 
tion, unless the parent takes the means to 
counteract it at the start. Nay, the idea 
of getting something for nothing may be- 
come ingrained and lead to gambling, 
speculation and even crime; it may lead 
to theft, which is the shortest cut." 

They felt that here they had the key 
to unlock the problem of much of the 
selfishness, idleness and dishonesty in the 
world around us, and pondering deeply 
how to avoid this quagmire in training their 
young brood, they decided that no child 
was too young to have some task to per- 



76 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

form each day for the good of the family, 
therefore instead of having a servant dust 
and keep in order the nursery the little 
ones worked with Auntie and Nursie to 
do this each day, and probably there was 
no part .of the day more thoroughly en- 
joyed, for what small child does not love 
to dust, shine and rub as she sees grown 
people doing. Tiny brooms and dust-pans 
were amongst their most beloved posses- 
sions, and joy of joys, on Saturdays they 
were allowed to try their hands at wash- 
ing windows and scrubbing shelves as well 
as to wash, hang out to dry and finally 
iron dolls' clothes, dusters and towels. Of 
course this made much more work than to 
have a servant do it, and occasional acci- 
dents in the way of spilled water and wet 
clothes were to be expected, but all this 
Mrs. Brown counted as nothing when 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 77 

compared with the forming of habits of 
industry and helpfulness. She was also 
continually on the watch for other small 




jobs which the children with a little help 
could perform. An occasional morning 
was spent in putting the yard in order, 
gathering up scraps of paper and dead 
leaves, sweeping the lawn and so on. 



78 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Sometimes on a cold, rainy fall after- 
noon Uncle would come home tired and 
wet to find a bright fire, his chair drawn 
up to it, his slippers toasting, Baby Rob- 
ert performing his part by sitting solemnly 
on the rug tightly hugging the evening 
paper, and the joy that comes from un- 
selfish effort for the comfort of others 
beaming in each face as the children ex- 
claimed, " We did it. We did it. We 
tidied the room for you, too." 

Jamie never forgot one unhappy eve- 
ning when he had selfishly refused to leave 
his building and help in these joyful prep- 
arations, how while the others were shar- 
ing kisses, caresses and happy jokes he 
stood a little apart unable through his own 
act to make one of the happy circle, appar- 
ently for the moment forgotten by every 
one: not one word was said about his 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 79 

selfishness, but lie never needed another 
lesson along that line. 

Often Auntie would leave the group 
in the playroom or on the lawn and return 
with a big dish of peas to be shelled or 
radishes or celery to be carefully washed, 
and when some hours later they sat down 
to dinner it was with the happy feeling 
that each had done something to prepare 
the meal. 

Nursie was directed to have all the 
basting threads left in new garments for 
the children to pull out, and Jamie was 
a proud boy, when, after many attempts 
he succeeded in sewing on buttons so they 
would stay. 

Mrs. Brown was surprised when she set 
herself to look for them how many things 
there were that even the smallest child 
could do to help, and her heart rejoiced 



80 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

as she found in what simple ways the 
lesson of " each for all and all for each ' 
could be inculcated and a child helped 
from the beginning of life to realize that 
he is a member of a great whole, with a 
place to fill and a work to do for that 
whole, and she realized as never before 
how the failure to provide such daily 
experiences in childhood must result in 
selfishness and narrowness in later life. 

" Each age has duties from whose per- 
formance it may not be released. Child- 
hood forms no exception to this general 
law. Happjr the child who is led, even 
though unconsciously, to act in accord- 
ance with its claims. Duties are not bur- 
dens but privileges. The path of duty 
leads to light and to all the blessings con- 
ferred by light. Therefore each normal 



PLAY WITH THE LIMBS 81 

and healthy child gladly fulfils duties/' 
savs Froebel. 

" The home is not a home nor the fam- 
ily a family unless each does his share," 
says another writer. 

It is a false kindness to try to save 
from effort. " Our truest friend is not 
he who makes things easy for us, but he 
who makes us do our best." 

That their children might daily grow 
stronger in body, in mind, and in char- 
acter was the conscious aim which Mr. 
and Mrs. Brown kept ever before them, 
and to achieve this they were willing, nay 
glad, to give their lives, and in so doing 
they found, as every true teacher and 
parent does find, that " He that watereth 
shall be watered also himself." 



The Mother calls " Cuckoo ! " to baby now, 
But there shall come erelong another call, 

Hidden, yet near, 
And oh so soft and low, 

The child must listen well if he would hear! 

At first it seems a call from other where, 
But, heeded well, it enters the child's soul, 

A dweller meet; 
And ever henceforth there 

Mingles its mandates with his heart's life-beat. 

— Fkoebel. 



CHAPTER HI 



THE FALLING GAME 



While little Robert was enjoying the 
Kicking Game described in the last chap- 
ter, he was also enjoying the Falling 
Game of the Mother Play Book. 

As he lay on his back on the bed, or 
on a pillow placed on the table, his 
mother wonld put her hands beneath him 
and raise him to a half-sitting position, 
then withdrawing them would let him fall 
back on the bed or pillow, singing as she 
did so the song by Emilie Poulsson in the 
Blow edition: 

" Down goes baby, 

Mother's pet; 
85 



86 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Up comes baby, 

Laughing yet. 
Baby well may laugh at harm, 
While beneath is mother's arm. 




" Down goes baby, 

Without fear, 

Up comes baby 

Gaily here, 
All is joy for baby while 
In the light of mother's smile." 



THE FALLING GAME 87 

Or, she would raise him by taking hold 
of his hands, then quietly letting them 
slip from her own he would fall back 
upon the bed with a slight shock. 

The first time or two this game was 
played, when baby felt himself slipping 
away from his mother his face showed 
a slight sense of fear, but mother's face 
was shining upon him and her loving 
voice reassuring him that all was well, 
so he soon smiled back and by and by 
greatly enjoyed this play, while the tone 
of Mrs. Brown's voice grew richer and 
deeper as she realized more and more that 
by means of such play her baby was 
learning to truly trust her, to feel that 
all was indeed well, " While beneath is 
mother's arm," for was he not finding 
through actual experience that he could 
safely trust both her wisdom and her 



88 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

love? while at the same time the con- 
sciousness of his own inherent strength 
and power was awakening within him, 
as he dimly sensed the truth of his own 
individuality. 

That they might so live day by day 
that he need never unlearn this lesson, 
never face the sad experience of finding 
that father and mother could not be fully, 
implicitly trusted, was the deepest longing 
of these parents. 

More earnestly than ever before in their 
lives they longed to be sincere, for they 
felt that another soul was leaning on 
them, another soul looking to them to 
guide aright his first steps in this new, 
untried world, and from the depth of 
their hearts rose the prayer that they 
might themselves be all that they desired 
their son to be, for well they knew that 



THE FALLING GAME 89 

" living the life " was the only influence 
which would really tell in their dealings 
with their children. 

" If you'd bind your little one to you, 
Bind your own self to all that's high and true 
And let its light shine clear through all you do." 

So Mrs. Brown and Robert day after 
day played this Falling Game until, as 
he grew stronger and more confident, she 
was able to raise him higher and higher, 
and letting him fall back receive an 
answering smile of recognition that knit 
their hearts closer and closer together, 
though she kept always in mind Froebel's 
admonition, " One must not wilfully go 
on with this or that play in opposition 
to the wish of the child, but always follow 
the child's circumstances, requirements, 
and needs, and his own expressions of 



90 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

life and activity," also that of Mr. Snider 
in his commentary, " This play, like every 
kind of play, can be carried to excess in 
various directions. 

" The tossing can be so rough that the 
child is frightened, thus he is cowed and 
his growth towards independence is de- 
layed rather than promoted. The limit is 
carefully marked in the song: the child 
must show his recovery by the smile, the 
smile of recognition, after the act of cast- 
ing him off." 

Pondering the thought that in such a 
game as this the child's faith is awakened, 
the parents were much interested in study- 
ing the definitions of faith given by vari- 
ous writers as well as in tracing the steps 
to be taken in developing it. Drummond 
thus defines it, " Faith is but an attitude, 
an empty hand for grasping an environing 



THE FALLING GAME 91 

presence/' while Miss Blow speaks of it 
as " the active instinct of sonship and 
brotherhood," " an impulsive leap of the 
individual toward the universal spirit/' 
" the electric line over which spiritual life 
is both communicated and discharged." 

They were much impressed by the 
thought of Pestalozzi given in the words, 
" I must love men, trust them, thank 
them, obey them before I can rise to lov- 
ing, thanking, trusting, obeying God. 
6 For he who loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, how shall he love his Father 
in Heaven whom he hath not seen? ' " and 
more deeply than ever they felt what a 
responsibility it is to be " A grown-up in 
a world of growing-ups. ' ' 

Feeling with Miss Blow that " The 
nurture of childhood must be rooted and 
grounded in faith," and that "It is the 



92 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

first and all important duty of the educa- 
tor to win faith by deserving it," they 
wrote in large letters and placed upon 
the wall where their eyes would continu- 
ally fall upon it the resolve, " We will 
say no word to our boy which we do not 
sincerely mean." 

A homely phrase, but one which they 
felt contained much wisdom in dealing 
with a child. 

In meditating on how to hold and keep 
their child's faith in themselves they felt 
that the one thing they must guard most 
carefully was that unruly member, the 
tongue. 

Through contact with many different 
parents and children they were led to 
see that the root of disobedience lay very 
often in the habit of thoughtless, unmean- 
ing words on the part of the former. 



THE FALLING GAME 93 

How often a parent refuses a child's 
request or gives a command without ever 
giving the subject a moment's earnest 
consideration ! 

How often the child early finds that 
the parents' yea is not yea, nor his nay, 
nay! 

Is it an unusual sight to see a child 
forbidden to do a certain thing and, after 
some teasing, often alas! some kicking 
and screaming, allowed to do it? 

Have you never looked on while a 
mother told her small child a half-dozen 
times to stop doing something while the 
child calmly went on to all appearance 
as deaf as a stone to his mother's voice? 

If we really studied this question of 
obedience, if we took it as we ought to 
take every problem, into the closet, and 
laying the matter before Him to whom 



94 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

all hearts are open, all desires known, 
then in the silence reverently and ex- 
pectantly awaited the answer which as- 
suredly would not be denied us, should 
we not find that the root of disobedience 
lies far more in ourselves than in our 
children! 

Should we not have to face the truth 
that many of our commands and prohibi- 
tions spring not from earnest conviction 
on the subject, but simply from custom or 
from the impulse of the moment, and so 
the child early learns that our " no " can 
be easily changed into " yes " or safely 
ignored altogether! 

Does not the boy who said, " Mother 
said I could not go, but 111 just keep still 
a day or two and then probably she will 
have forgotten what she said," or the 
little girl who remarked with a toss of 



THE FALLING GAME 95 

her curls, " Mother said she'd have some 
cherries for us when we got home, but I 
don't suppose she will, she's always say- 
ing she'll do things and then not doing 
them," give us an insight into the char- 
acter of too many parents? 

We don't mean to be untrue or to de- 
ceive our children, we have only fallen 
into the habit of saying something and 
forgetting the next moment what we did 
say, but alas! by such thoughtlessness 
many a little child's faith is undermined 
in the very beginning of life and the seeds 
of disobedience planted by our own hands. 

Is it not a truism that the man or 
woman who really deserves the faith and 
confidence of his fellow-men, has it? And 
is it not equally true that the parent or 
teacher who in his daily life proves to the 
children that he is a strong rock, an an- 



95 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

chor in which they can in time of neces- 
sity safely trust, will be respected and 
obeyed? A child naturally feels that he 
is in a world whose laws he does not fully 
understand and is glad to follow the guid- 
ance of one in whom he has implicit con- 
fidence. 

A teacher once wrote to the corre- 
spondence editor of an educational paper 
asking for advice as to how to deal with 
pupils who persistently disobeyed him. 
The answer he received was, " If you 
are a new teacher you must have patience 
until you win the confidence of your 
pupils. If, however, you have been for 
some time in this school and are still dis- 
obeyed you had better choose some other 
position in life. You are a misfit in the 
schoolroom." 

In the " Education of Man " Froebel 



THE FALLING GAME 97 

gives us the following pregnant sentences: 
" Between educator and pupil, between 
request and obedience, there should in- 
visibly rule a third something, to which 
educator and pupil are equally subject. 
This third something is the right, the 
best, necessarily conditioned and ex- 
pressed without arbitrariness in the cir- 
cumstances. The calm recognition, the 
clear knowledge, and the serene cheerful 
obedience to the rule of this third some- 
thing is the particular feature which 
should be constantly and clearly manifest 
in the bearing and conduct of the edu- 
cator and teacher, and often firmly and 
sternly emphasized by him. 

" The child, the pupil, has a very keen 
feeling, a very clear apprehension, and 
rarely fails to distinguish whether what 
the educator or the father says or re- 



98 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

quests is personal or arbitrary or whether 
it is expressed by him as a general law 
and necessity. This obedience, this trust- 
ful yielding to an unchangeable third 
principle to which pupil and teacher are 
equally subject, should appear even in the 
smallest details of every demand of the 
educator and teacher.' ' 

So while Mrs. Brown was striving to 
awaken and nourish little Robert's faith 
in herself by such games and plays as 
this Falling Game, both she and her hus- 
band were earnestly striving to train 
themselves never to give a command or 
refuse a request, whether in word or ac- 
tion, for very many of the little child's 
desires are made known by the latter 
means, without first weighing the matter. 
Having done this, they were sure of the 
ground upon which they stood and so > 



THE FALLING GAME 99 

could speak with a quiet decision which 
in itself commanded obedience, and the 
children learning from the beginning that 
their word having gone forth neither 
tears or teasing could avail anything, these 
were almost unknown in the Brown fam- 

iiy. 

Of course they frequently failed to live 
up to this ideal, but they accepted Gold- 
smith's saying, " The true glory of life 
consists not in never falling, but in rising 
every time we fall." Mrs. Brown found 
herself sometimes saying, " Don't " first 
and then stopping to consider whether 
there was any real reason why the child 
should not do as he wished, instead of 
thinking before speaking, but knowing 
her weakness she persisted until she 
overcame it. She fully tested the advice 
she gave to mothers in after years, 



100 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

" When the word ' Don't ' or ' Stop ' is 
on yonr lips hold it back until you have 
put to yourself and answered the question, 
' Is there any real, sensible reason why 
the child should not do as he is doing? ' 
and you will be surprised to find how 
seldom you can give an affirmative an- 



swer." 



The children therefore had much free- 
dom to follow their natural desires and 
inclinations, and when they were refused 
a request or given a command they ac- 
cepted with the feeling that there was 
some good reason behind it, they instinc- 
tively felt and obe} r ed this invisible 
" Third something " to which he who 
gave the command was equally subject 
with them. 

They realized " vaguely at first but 
clearer by and by " that their parents' 



THE FALLING GAME 101 

commands were founded, not on personal 
whim or prejudice, not, as a child often 
expresses it, " Because father or mother 
is cross, or tired, or busy," but because 
it was the right, the best thing to do under 
the circumstances, what they themselves 
would do if in the child's place. 

Their parents were simply voicing for 
them a universal law, and so they obeyed 
without the feeling of being coerced by 
a stronger personality. 

Do we not all instinctively follow the 
advice of one whom we feel knows more 
in any given line than we do? 

When the relation between parent and 
child is one of mutual trust and con- 
fidence, obedience follows as a natural re- 
sult. Disobedience arises from a lack of 
perfect confidence — the confidence which 
every little child instinctively has in grown 



102 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

persons, especially in his parents, but 
which alas! is often so early destroyed 
because he finds us unworthy of trust. 

Another educational principle which 
they found invaluable in their life with 
the little ones was that of changing the 
centre of interest when the child's activ- 
ity w r as leading him in wrong or unwise 
directions. 

Instead of scolding Jamie w T hen he 
drew pictures on the wall, or the margin 
of books, they supplied him with an 
abundance of paper and pencils, and a 
blackboard, and then insisted that he 
should draw nowhere else. 

Lulu's desire to investigate other 
people's drawers and boxes was over- 
come by giving her a drawer and boxes 
of her own, with treasures to keep in 



104 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

them, and allowing no one to touch them 
without her permission, helping her thus 
to respect " the rights of property.' ' 
Little May's fingers were kept so busy 
that she had no time to get into mis- 
chief. 

Thus through being sympathetically, 
intelligently nurtured by those whose 
lives were founded, not on the sands of 
impulse and personal feeling, hut on the 
strong rock of universal principle, the 
children daily grew in faith and love 
towards their fellow-men, thus taking 
firmly and securely the first step on the 
ladder set up from earth to heaven. 

Like all parents and teachers, Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown were continually tried and 
tested by the young people around them, 
but so earnest and sincere were they, so 
anxious to live up to their responsibilities, 



THE FALLING GAME 105 

that though weighed in the balance they 
were not found wanting. 

They, too, learned the lesson of the 
Falling Game, and though they often 
slipped and stumbled, their mistakes only 
made them take a firmer hold of them- 
selves and realize the more fully that 
just as 

" Baby well may laugh at harm 
While beneath his mother's arm," 

so they too could be happy and joyous 
as they remembered that " The eternal 
God is thy refuge and underneath are 
the everlasting arms." 

As the consciousness of mother's love 
stirred the heart and brought forth the 
answering smile on little Robert's face, 
so the ever-growing consciousness of the 
loving presence of " Him in whom we live 



106 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

and move and have our being " brought 
strength and joy to his parents. 

In explaining the Falling Game, Froebel 
tells us that the child must slip back with 
sufficient force to feel a slight shock. The 
mother, who is acting the part of Provi- 
dence, is instructed, as it were, to push 
her child from her and to push him with 
such force that he shall feel the separa- 
tion; but while separating him physically 
and helping him to a consciousness of 
the separation she binds him to her 
spiritually by her love expressed in song 
and smile as well as in the care she takes 
that he shall suffer no real harm. 

But why thus separate her child from 
her? The mother who loves her child 
" not wisely but too well," who feels that 
her mission is to save him from every 
tear or trial, who, to use her own words, 



THE FALLING GAME 107 

" Loves her children so dearly that she 
cannot bear to see them shed a tear," will 
not like this game or its teaching. 

But the mother who realizes that for 
her child as for herself, 

" Not enjoyment and not sorrow 
Is the destined end or way, 
But to act that each to-morrow, 
Find us further than to-day," 

will see in this little game an opportunity 
to help her child towards a consciousness 
of himself as an individual separate from 
other individuals and from things, a 
consciousness which he must gain before 
he can enter upon his birthright and ful- 
fil his destiny as a free, responsible being. 

" The baby new to earth and sky, 
What time his tender palm is prest 
Against the circle of the breast 
Has never thought that, ' this is I.' 



108 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

" But as he grows he gathers much 
And learns the use of ' I ' and ' Me/ 
And finds ' I am not what I see 
And other than the things I touch.' 



" So rounds he to a separate mind 
From whence clear memory may begin, 
As through the frame that binds him in 
His isolation grows defined," 

as Tennyson so beautifully puts it in 
" In Memoriam. ' ' 

Froebel's belief was that the groping 
soul may be much helped " in rounding 
to a separate mind," by games. 

The little game of hiding baby's face 
behind a handkerchief, or on Mother's 
breast, then hailing its re-appearance with 
delight, which is played in almost every 
nursery, but which, because no deep mean- 
ing is recognized in it, is played only 



THE FALLING GAME 109 

occasionally and with little intelligence 
on the part of the grown-up participator, 
was a regular feature of nursery life in 



-^ 




the Browns' home, the parents realizing 
that the moment of separation with the 
joyful re-union was helping baby to 
" find himself." 



110 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

" Why does my little one laugh so, and crow 
With pretty exultant pride 
When I find him at last, after feigning long 
To look for him far and wide ? 

" Ah, well may a note of exulting be heard 
In the laugh of the sweet little elf! 
He triumphs not only because he is found, 
But because he is finding himself. 

" He feels that his being is something apart 
From the people and things that surround; 
He knows what is meant when his name is called 

out 
When he hides, that tis he must be found. 

" Play on, gentle mother, play on with thy child, 
But his deeper life never forget ; 
He has reached a new stage, with new need of thy 

care, 
To guard where new dangers beset. 

" With reverent love greet each wakening power, 
And turn its glad eyes to the light ; 
He hides now in sport, but he never will hide 
His opening soul from thy sight." 



THE FALLING GAME 111 

Is the beautiful motto to one of the Hid- 
ing Games of the Mother Play Book. 

The older children also spent many 
happy hours both out-doors and within 
playing hide and seek, Aunt and Uncle's 
hearty interest adding much to their joy. 
Little May dearly loved the Cuckoo game, 
in which she or one of the other children 
hid themselves from view and then re- 
vealed their hiding place by softly calling 
" Cuckoo.' ' Often while Auntie sat sew- 
ing she would hide behind a door or 
curtain and Auntie would call " Cuckoo " 
and receive the same call in reply. Being 
hidden from view and yet able to com- 
municate by voice seemed to give her in- 
tense pleasure, and she would keep as 
still as a mouse listening for the dear 
voice. Robert, too, soon enjoyed having 
his face hidden for a minute while he 



112 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

listened. Thus were these little ones 
being prepared to listen for and obey the 
still, small voice within. 

In all these games Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
were careful to avoid the danger pointed 
out by Froebel of the children learning 
to love concealment by making the chief 
joy of the game that of the happy re- 
union. 

Kisses, hugs, smiles, happiness always 
greeted the child when after his few mo- 
ments of separation he came again into 
view. 

For as Miss Blow tells us in her book, 
" Symbolic Education," " In every at- 
tempt to apply practically the insight into 
estrangement and return, the important 
thing to remember is that alienation is 
always means to an end. The child who 
hides too long in play may do something 



THE FALLING GAME 113 

which will create a desire to hide in 
earnest. 

" The boy whose adventures at school, 
in the field, on the playground, are not 
poured into his mother's ears and inter- 
preted by her sympathy will be led away 
from her instead of being drawn nearer 
to her by these alien experiences. The 
student may lose himself so completely 
in the past that he can never find himself 
in the present, the traveller may wander 
too long in foreign lands and thus kill his 
love of country. . . . Separation for union, 
estrangement for return, is the watch- 
word of education, and the impetus 
through which individual life widens from 
a mere point to infinitude." 

So these parents held ever before them 
the two-fold purpose of helping each 
child to " find himself: " to know himself 



114 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

a separate individual having his own life 
to lead, his own place to fill in the world, 
and at the same time drawing each one 
nearer and yet nearer to them and so to 
all humanity by the invisible bond of 
love. 

Their rule with the children was never 
to do for them what they could with a 
little help and showing do for themselves, 
that the feeling of their own power, their 
own ability to accomplish might grow 
with their growth. 

When little Eobert dropped his play- 
things or sent them out of reach, they 
were not constantly picked up and given 
back to him, but he was carried to them 
and encouraged and helped to pick them 
up himself, while the older children were 
trained at any early age to dress and 
undress themselves and to feel pride in 



THE FALLING GAME 115 

being able to do so. In every way pos- 
sible they were trained to do for them- 
selves, to be self-reliant. 
Little May was so happy when at last, 




after many trials, she conld button her 
own shoes, that for several days the but- 
ton-hook was seldom out of her hands 
and her shoes were taken off and put on at 
intervals all through the day. 



f 



116 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Nursie had the bad habit when she 
first came of blaming the articles about 
her for any little accident that occurred. 
When, for instance, Lulu running pell- 
mell through the hall bumped her head 
against the door, she would comfort her 
by saying, " Naughty door to hurt my 
pet, we will just whip it," and was greatly 
surprised when Mrs. Brown pointed out 
to her what a stumbling block she was 
placing in the child's way by teaching 
her to lay the blame on something exter- 
nal instead of seeking the cause in her 
own lack of care and self-control. 

Her plan was, after kissing the bumped 
place and wiping away the tears, to show 
the child that the cause lay in her own 
hurry and thoughtlessness, and that the 
innocent door was rather to be pitied for 
being treated so roughly. 



THE FALLING GAME 117 

" Take care, little engineer, or your en- 
gine will run away with you," was a warn- 
ing often on her lips when the children 
showed signs of excitement or boisterous- 
ness, for she wished them early to learn 
the invaluable lesson that they could and 
must be master of their feelings; self 
control meaning to her control by the 
higher self. 

Alas, as we look about us how many 
cases do we see where the engineer has 
given up his place as master, and allows 
his feelings, his passions, or his nerves 
to master him! 

Many men and women seem never to 
have grasped to the slightest degree the 
thought of their power over circumstances, 
but weakly allow their boat to be tossed 
hither and thither by every passing breeze. 

In order to develop in their children 



118 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

the habit of cool, serene, quiet self-control 
so necessary in all true living, Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown strove in every way to avoid 
the rush and hurry with its consequent 
excitement, irritation and nervousness, so 
prevalent to-day. 

So important did they consider a calm, 
quiet, restful atmosphere in the home, that 
they were willing to sacrifice many in- 
terests in order to gain it, for they felt 
the truth of Froebel's words, " With- 
out collectedness the soul can neither 
strengthen or unfold her powers," and 
realized that rush and hurry were fatal 
to this spirit. 

Although not teachers in the ordinary 
sense of the word, they took to themselves 
and applied in their daily lives the words 
of a writer to teachers: " But above all 
things the teacher must think, she must 



THE FALLING GAME 119 

be alone, she must deny herself many 
things for the work's sake — not waste 
her energies on idle stories, not be in- 
dustrious in reading and idle in thought, 
nor expect to grow wise by merely ap- 
propriating the thoughts of others — she 
must seek for wisdom as for hidden treas- 
ure/ ' 

" If the chosen soul could never be alone, 
In deep mid-silence, open-doored to God alone, 
ISTo greatness ever had been dreamed or done. 
The nurse of full-grown souls is solitude." 

They planned as carefully for a daily hour 
of quiet communion as for the daily 
meals. 



« > 



Tis not in seeking, 

'Tis not in endless striving, 

Thy quest is found. 

Be still and listen ; 



120 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Be still and drink the quiet 

Of all around. 

Not for thy crying 

Not for thy loud beseeching 

Will peace draw near; 

Rest with palm folded, 

Rest with thine eyelids fallen, 

Lo ! Peace is here," 

truly sings Edward Rowland. 

In their study of ideal home life as 
pictured in Froebel's Mother Play Book 
one of the deepest impressions made upon 
the minds of Mr. and Mrs. Brown was 
that a true home could not be contained 
within the borders of four brick or 
wooden walls, but presupposed an en- 
vironment of nature, and that an impor- 
tant part of this environment was animal 
life. So to the cat and doff who had been 
members of their household from the 



THE FALLING GAME 121 

first, they gradually added hens and 
chickens, rabbits and pigeons, and feeding 
and caring for these played an important 
part in the daily life of the children. 
" How can I nurture nurturers unless I 
provide some weaker life for them to 
nurture? " said Mrs. Brown. " How else 
can I help them to gain a conception of 
what Mr. Hughes calls the greatest of 
all truths, namely, that they have power 
to help other life to grow to grander 
life? " 

This thought of education as a process 
of " nurturing nurturers " also helped her 
to a deeper realization of the important 
part which dolls play in the child's educa- 
tion. 

Does not the real charm of the doll lie 
in the fact that to the imagination of the 
child it needs her help, it is cold or hun- 



. THE FALLING GAME 123 

gry or sad and she can comfort and help 
it, and should we not carefully supply 
the young soul with all it needs to 
draw out and develop this God-like de- 
sire? 

The children of course in their play 
imitated the life of their dumb com- 
panions. They were greatly interested 
in the Mother Play Game of the Pigeon 
House and dramatized it in a great variety 
of ways. Often chairs formed the Pigeon 
House and the children flew in and out, 
then were shut up safely for the night, 
but before going to sleep told with their 
soft " Coo-coo " all they had seen and 
done during the absence from home. 

Mrs. Brown often called the children 
her pigeons, and as they started off for a 
walk with Nursie or Uncle, or to spend 
an hour or two with some of their little 



124 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

friends, she would say, " Now, little 
pigeons, be sure you remember all you 
see and do to tell me on your return," 
and never would she allow herself to be 
too busy to hear all their little experi- 
ences, for she felt that the habit of tell- 
ing mother everything was the very 
greatest safeguard a child could have 
and that no pains should be spared to 
establish and keep it up. 

The motto of the Pigeon House Game 
pleased her very much. 

" Glad out-going, sweet home-coming, 
In this little game they see ; 
At the real home-comings, Mother, 
Gather them about your knee ; 

" Ask them of each sight and happening, 
In the quiet twilight hour, 
Help them weave it all together 
Like a garland flower to flower. 



THE FALLING GAME 125 

" With the years, the larger knowledge 
Of life's wholeness then will come, 
And its twilight hour will find them 
With themselves and God at home." 

Jamie was sometimes allowed* to go 
with the other boys to sail boats in a 
stream near by, to fly kites, or gather 
nuts, for they felt that they must not 
clip the wings of their pigeons, but rather 
help them to gain the full, free use of 
them. Always after one of these excur- 
sions the little traveller found the home 
party eager to hear all about it. 

Sometimes he returned with new im- 
pressions which, if he had had no one 
to freely and unreservedly open his mind 
to without fear of ridicule or reproof, 
might have been the beginning of undesir- 
able lines of thought; but bringing his 
every experience and problem to the 



126 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

sympathetic ear of Aunt and Uncle, he 
was set right upon many points that with- 
out such careful guidance might have 
started him off in wrong directions. 

They did not often say much at the 
time, for they wished him above all things 
to feel no reserve in opening his unfolding 
heart and mind to them, but seeing a 
wrong tendency in its very beginning 
they were able, often quite unconsciously 
to the child, to direct his steps into the 
right path. 

When the boys called for him to go 
with them Mrs. Brown would frequently 
invite them to stop at her house on their 
return and show her their treasures, for 
she wished to keep in close touch with 
his friends. On such occasions the boys 
were pretty sure to find apples, ginger- 
bread or lemonade awaiting them and 



THE FALLING GAME 127 

to have such a merry time recounting 
their experiences, that they soon voted 
Jamie's Auntie " Awfully jolly," and 
having established such a reputation she 
was able on occasion to drop a hint about 
rude talk or behaviour and have it re- 
ceived and acted upon. 

" To arm rather than to shield " was 
her constant watchword. It would not 
be long before Jamie must go every day 
to school where he would necessarily meet 
with new temptations or problems, and 
for this they wished to prepare him. 

For Robert, too, she felt that 



" Soon her arms must loose their hold, 
Not, as now, in pretty play — 
Keeping still their circle round him 
That no jar or fright may wound him — 
But for all the day. 



128 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

" And for this her thoughtful love 
Must his little life prepare: 
Teaching first how she is needed, 
That through her fond cautions heeded 
He may learn self -care." 



" He who would know the Creator must exercise 
his own creative power/' — Froebee. 

" Flay is the highest phase of child development, 
of human development at this period, for it is self- 
active representation of the inner, from inner neces- 
sity and impulse." — Froebee. 

u The child must reproduce with matter what he 
has received into himself from the external world in 
order to understand it." — Froebee. 

" Knowledge is food hut creation is life and we 
live not to eat, hut eat to live." — Susan Blow. 



t. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 

" The debasing illusion that man works, 
produces, creates only in order to pre- 
serve his body, in order to secure food, 
clothing and shelter, may have to be en- 
dured, but should not be diffused and 
propagated. Primarily and in truth man 
works only that his spiritual, divine es- 
sence may assume outward form, and that 
thus he may be enabled to recognize his 
own spiritual divine nature and the inner- 
most being of God. Whatever food, cloth- 
ing and shelter he obtains thereby comes 
to him as an insignificant surplus. 

a Therefore Jesus says, ' Seek ye first the 
kingdom of heaven/ i.e. the realization 

131 



132 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

of the divine spirit in your life, and what- 
ever else your finite life may require will 
be added unto you." 

Mrs. Brown never forgot the first time 
she read these words in Froebel's " Edu- 
cation of Man." It was one stormy win- 
ter evening some months before Robert's 
birth when, Mr. Brown having gone to 
attend a church meeting, she was all 
alone. 

So impressed was she with these words 
that she read and re-read them, then laid 
down the book and followed the train of 
thought they had awakened. " This has 
been the consciousness," she mused, " of 
all the great artists, musicians, writers 
and reformers of the world, but, oh, how 
far from this are the ideals and lives of 
the common people! How few young men 
for instance start upon their life-work 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 133 
with any clear realization of this great 
truth ! 

" Does the education we give our sons 
and daughters send them out into the 
world full of the thought that there is a 
place for them to fill, a work for them to 
do for the good of the race, or does it 
send them out, the boy with a keen 
desire to make money, the girl to have 
a good, easy time'? " 

These words of Froebel came back to 
her many times as she watched the chil- 
dren at play and helped her to enter more 
fully into the meaning of Christ's words, 
" Except ye become as little children ye 
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of 
Heaven,' ' for is not the whole of a child's 
free, spontaneous play the unconscious 
attempt on his part to put his inner world 
into outer manifestation, and does not 



134 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

the desire to do so spring from his deep 
inner being, the deep unconscious sea 
surging within % 

The human being has come into this 
world for no other purpose than that 
he may become conscious of his own real 
being and therefore of the Creator in 
whose image he is made. 

The divine spark within begins to stir 
from the very beginning of the infant's 
life and urges the child to continual ac- 
tivity. But alas, how very few parents 
at the present day are filled with a feeling 
of reverence at the sight of the child's 
activity, and put forth earnest thought 
and effort to guide it aright! How few 
truly realize that there is an angel within 
their child striving for expression! How 
few study a child as " a struggling ex- 
pression of an inner divine law! " 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 135 

The child does not understand these 
inner feelings, and if those who should 
understand and be able to guide and help 
are as blind as he, have we not a case of 
the blind leading the blind and both fall- 
ing into the ditch? 

In years gone by the mother lived more 
with her children; she had fewer outside 
interests and she and they grew and 
solved many of life's problems together. 
For some years woman's life has been 
leading her away from home and children, 
but thank God, the pendulum is now 
swinging back, and mothers and those 
who look forward to motherhood are 
beginning to realize that there is a science 
of motherhood which is full of fascination 
for the motherly heart. Surely this is 
one of the greatest and most hopeful signs 
of the times. 



136 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

Some of the greatest minds of the day 
are earnestly and scientifically studying 
the beginnings of intellectual and emo- 
tional life that we may know better how 
to deal with the young human being and 
avoid the sad dwarfing and stunting so 
common in infancy and childhood. 

Such a scene as the following was often 
enacted in the Brown household: Lulu 
sitting on the floor utterly absorbed in the 
construction of some wonderful piece of 
architecture, only jumping up now and 
then to fetch a doll or some animal to 
complete the scene; presently the work 
is completed to her satisfaction and she 
calls upon Auntie and the other children 
to come and see what she has made. Then 
with dancing eyes, in which one who has 
eyes to see can trace a great depth of 
feeling, she explains that this is a house 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 137 

where a little girl lives and this is the 
father just come home, and this the table 
laid for dinner, and so on. " Striving to 




jy 



interpret the world by creating its image, 
thinks Mrs. Brown as she lays down her 
sewing and listens, asks questions and 
shows a genuine interest because she rea- 
lizes something of what such sympathy 



138 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

and recognition mean to the young artist 
in these her first attempts to out-picture 
the story in her mind, and how without it 
the soul may be crushed and so thrown 
back upon itself as never through a long 
life to fully recover. 

" The joy of the artist is already his, 
what seems a crude and even absurd re- 
semblance to us is enough to satisfy him, 
and woe betide the stale and withered 
soul that dares to laugh to scorn the crea- 
tive impulse! 

"It is far better that one should strike 
the child a blow on the head than risk 
stifling this divinely ordained utterance 
of the dim but awakening power of the 
young soul to reproduce or express the 
images from the world within. The 
majority of mankind struggle all through 
life from lack of power to outer or utter 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 139 

their inner sentiments, dreams or ideals 
— beating like imprisoned birds against 
an iron cage, in which reserve, criticism 
or fear has shut them. Misunderstood 
souls are they— forever longing for recog- 
nition, forever losing the priceless privi- 
lege of enriching the world with their 
ideals, of strengthening it with their inner 
experiences, " writes Miss Harrison, of 
the child building with blocks in " The 
Kindergarten Building Gifts." 

Mrs. Brown felt that there were two 
things demanded of the Mother and edu- 
cator, that she supply the young soul 
with an abundance of suitable material 
for the expression of his ideas and ideals, 
and that she ever treat his little produc- 
tions with reverence and sympathy, and 
as she resumed her work after one of 
these numerous interruptions, which she 



140 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

realized were after all the real work of 
her life, she meditated on " the deep 
meaning that oft lies hid in childish 
play." 

She saw how by such play the power 
of concentration, so indispensable in all 
real living, is cultivated, and as carefully 
refrained from unnecessarily breaking 
into their train of thought as she would 
had they been artists drawing pictures or 
writers writing books. She would always 
give them warning some minutes before it 
was time to lay aside work for bed or out- 
ing, and she instructed the servants to ring 
a first bell for meals ten minutes before 
they were expected to sit down, that the 
wonderful castle, mud pie or picture which 
was being constructed might be completed, 
or left in a safe condition for future 
operations. 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 141 

How cruelly is a little mother who is 
getting her dolly ready for bed or walk 
sometimes compelled to lay it down, cold 
and uncared for, at the call of an older 
person, and if she waits to cover it care- 
fully before responding, told she is a 
naughty, disobedient little girl; good girls 
come the moment they are called! 

Every such clash between the inner and 
the outer call weakens the child and builds 
a character which has no stability, no 
concentration, but changes its line of 
thought and action to suit every passing 
breeze. When the teacher later on com- 
plains that the boy or girl is lacking in 
power of attention, in concentration and 
perseverance, how few parents trace 
these weaknesses back to their own 
training in early childhood! 

What is true obedience? When the 



142 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

parent, following solely the impulse or 
whim of the moment, demands of the 
child that he do that which his inner 
guide, striving for his truest and fullest 
development urges him not to do, whom 
is the child to obey? 

Have parents not reason to meditate 
earnestly on the last words of the com- 
mand, " Children, obey your parents in 
the Lord^' and ask whether their com- 
mands or prohibitions are really of the 
Lord, or of their own small, petty selves, 
that is, whether they spring from univer- 
sal principle, or from custom or habit 
founded on no true principle? 

Again Mrs. Brown saw how active the 
little brain was in play, how the whole 
circle of mental activity was called vigor- 
ously into action as the child conceived 
an idea, planned how to express it with 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 143 

the material at hand and then carried it 
to completion. Perception, conception 
and execution each playing its proper 
part, play is the truest form of self- 
activity. Nature guides the child aright, 
but how often parents and teachers in- 
stead of studying Nature's methods and 
co-operating with her imagine that they 
have found a better way and insist upon 
the child's walking in the narrow, narrow 
path, they have laid down; and in con- 
sequence we find few men or women who 
are in full possession of all their powers 
of mind and body, few who are truly 
happy. Is there a full-grown man or 
woman who does not realize that he or 
she might be much more than he is? Is it 
not a universal experience to realize as 
we grow older that there are sides of our 
characters which are almost wholly un- 



144 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

developed? Do we not all wish as we 
look back upon our childhood and youth 
that our education had been a broader, 
more universal one, and feeling so does 
it not behoove us to be up and doing that 
the children of to-day may have less to 
regret in later life? 

Is there a father who does not desire 
that his son may be a more truly success- 
ful man than he is? But wishing alone 
accomplishes nothing; like the little child 
we must carry our ideals into execution. 
Is not the weakest character the one who 
plans most and accomplishes least? Is 
not the failure to complete the circle of 
mental activity the great weakness of 
our schools to-day, so that we have a 
multitude of men and women, who like 
Kingsley's character, Mr. Leigh, " possess 
almost every gift except the gift of the 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 145 

power to use them? " Are not our boys 
and girls spending hours upon hours mem- 
orizing facts, letting other people's 
thoughts run through their heads, with 
almost no opportunity of giving expres- 
sion to the ideals which should be aroused 
by this study? 

Most of our expressional work in school 
is limited to language which is but one 
and the most difficult of many forms of 
expression, with all of which the child 
should be familiar, that he may have many 
modes of expression, gain the all-round 
development which comes through using 
them, and at the same time discover in 
which he can best live out his own par- 
ticular life and bless the world. 

When manual training becomes, as it is 
to become, a necessary step in every sub- 
ject of instruction, the terrible cramming 



146 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

so common in school work to-day and so 
detrimental to the best intellectual devel- 
opment will be relegated to the dark ages, 
for the child must thoroughly assimilate 
the knowledge which he is to use in orig- 
inal expression. True manual training is 
not by any means the reproduction of set 
copies, but the expression in material 
form of the original conception of the pro- 
ducer. 

So long as the schools strive to develop 
the receptive and reflective powers and 
leave the development of the executive 
powers, or " the powers which apply or use 
the knowledge gathered by the receptive 
powers and classified or made ready for 
use by the reflective powers,'' largely to 
chance circumstances, the full circle is not 
complete and the pupils consequently one- 
sided and unsatisfied. How full our 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 147 

schools are of boys and girls longing for 
the time to come when they shall be re- 
leased, studying not from a love of study, 
but painfully, from a sense of duty alone, 
the natural result of a system of education 
which ignores the keen desire to be doing, 
accomplishing, achieving, and treats the 
human being as if his one desire was 
knowledge for the sake of knowledge, 
while the truth remains that he is hungry 
for knowledge in order to live, to do. 

But after all, the great benefit of all orig- 
inal expressional work is that by means 
of it the child learns to know himself. His 
work or play is the mirror in which he 
sees his own inner life reflected, and by 
studying this reflection he learns to know 
himself spiritually just as he learns to know 
his own face by seeing it reflected, he dis- 
covers his strong points, his best line for 



148 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

work, and at the same time the weak 
places which he must strengthen. 

It was interesting to watch Lulu's de- 
velopment along the line of carefulness 
and steadiness, for she was naturally in- 
clined to rush at things without careful 
thought and preparation. Her first build- 
ings were apt to topple over ere well be- 
gun. Jamie, on the other hand, was very 
careful and exact, perhaps inclined to be 
a little too anxious and careful, so that 
working together, they were a great help 
to one another,— Lulu learning that it paid 
in the end to plan well and work carefully, 
Jamie, that if he were too deliberate and 
careful Lulu would soon outstrip him and 
finish before he had well begun. 

No words could ever have brought home 
to them the many lessons they learned 
through their own experiences. 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 149 

To cultivate a habit of carefulness and 
exactness and also to give them a standard 
of measurement, Mrs. Brown covered a low 
table with oil-cloth lined in one-inch 
squares which she bought at a Kindergar- 
ten supply store. Being called upon to 
admire some piece of architecture she 
would commend the one built straight on 
the squares and also set up a new line of 
thought by setting them to discover whose 
tower was highest, or train longest; how 
many blocks were in the back of the chair, 
or how thick the wall was, thus giving 
them an insight into the use of numbers, 
a valuable preparation for future work in 
arithmetic,— a preparation the lack of 
which often makes this study such a bug- 
bear to both pupil and teacher, whereas it, 
like all study, should be a continual joy. 
Should not the satisfaction of mental hun- 



150 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

ger be at least as great a pleasure as the 
satisfaction of physical hunger, and if it 
is not should we not carefully examine the 
food supplied as to whether it is the proper 
food for the stage at which the pupil has 
arrived and whether we are giving it in 
proper quantities? 

This free expressional work gave Mrs. 
Brown many a peep into the inner work- 
ings of these young minds, and, as all mind 
is one, helped her to understand herself 
and all others, thus adding to her own hap- 
piness and also her power for good in the 
world, for is it not true that " all true joy 
is that of the spirit breaking its previous 
bounds? " 

It also helped her at times to ward off a 
danger which threatened these little lives, 
as when for instance, on Jamie's return 
from a visit to a little friend whose un- 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 151 

thinking friends had given him for a birth- 
day present a box of soldiers with cannon 




and other war implements, he spent a long 
time drawing and exulting over a bloody 
war scene; bringing it to share with her, 
she praised the execution, pointing out the 



152 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

good points and drawing his attention to 
some errors, then having warmed the little 
heart by her sympathy she said, " But 
somehow war pictures make me feel very 
sad," and pointing to some lines which he 
had told her represented a soldier (one of 
the enemy) who had just been killed, she 
said, " Poor fellow, how sorry his wife and 
little children will be; no kind father to 
come home each evening and love and care 
for them. I would rather look at and 
make pictures of people who are loving 
and caring for one another." Jamie said 
nothing, but she afterwards saw the paper 
crumpled and torn in the waste-paper 
basket, and later on he showed her a 
picture of firemen saving the lives and 
home of a poor family, and as she com- 
mended it he said quietly, " I like it best, 
too." 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 153 

" Why will Christian parents persist in 
awakening the savage delight in bloodshed 
in their young children by giving them 
such playthings," said Mr. Brown when he 
heard of this incident. " Surely such 
things ought to be kept out of our nurser- 
ies as the first step towards eliminating 
them from the world. 

" So long as parents encourage children 
to play war shall we have the reality. Of 
what use to teach love and brotherhood by 
words, while our actions, which speak much 
louder than our words, inculcate their op- 
posites. The boy who spends hours play- 
ing with a toy pistol is apt to be ready 
as a man to use it on the slightest provoca- 
tion, the imaginary enemies of childhood 
becoming the real enemies of later life. 
Should not the imaginary world in which 
the child so largely lives be filled with 



154 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

friends, not enemies, with love, peace and 
goodwill instead of strife and enmity? ' 

" Oh, how earnestly we should all pray, 
help us to live more nearly as we pray! 
The great need of the world to-day is that 
our religion, instead of being so largely a 
matter of praying and singing hymns on 
one day of the week, should be the ruling 
motive of our every-day life," replied Mrs. 
Brown. 

Then, too, Mrs. Brown saw clearly that 
the way to prevent a habit of destruction 
was to help the child to construct. Shortly 
after her sister's children came to her, 
Lulu one day got hold of a pair of scissors 
and cut holes in the nursery table-cloth. 
Nursie tied up the little hands, telling her 
she was a very naughty girl as she had 
been told never to touch scissors, though 
in her heart she blamed herself more than 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 155 

the child, for she felt that, knowing she 
had got into similar mischief several times, 
she should have been more careful to keep 
the scissors out of her reach. 

Mrs. Brown, however, looked at the mat- 
ter through a different pair of spectacles. 

Her study of childhood showed her that 
such a manifestation did not spring from 
a wrong motive, a desire to do wrong, as 
Nursie supposed, but from the natural de- 
sire for change-making, the first step in 
construction. She realized that without 
the desire in the human race to change the 
form of things there would be no progress 
from generation to generation, but that we 
should be living to-day just as our fore- 
fathers did. . The child's desire was not 
wrong, it was simply working itself out 
in a wrong way because the right had not 
been provided and therefore the activity 



156 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

should not be suppressed but led into the 
proper channels. To treat it as wrong- 
doing and try to prevent it was to sin 
against the whole race, for, encouraged and 
rightly directed, it would do its part later 
on to bless and raise humanity; crushed 
and restrained, it would not only injure 
the life of the individual but rob humanity 
of some of its power, even if it did not 
break out in later life in illegitimate 
ways, thus helping to poison the stream 
of life. 

u Parents and teachers are making his- 
tory; they are making or unmaking civili- 
zation; they are promoting or holding back 
the triumph of God's kingdom upon the 
earth." We need to connect our daily ac- 
tions with the great whole of life in order 
to view our work aright. We are a part 
of the great world energy, and working, 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 157 

not only for our own family, but for the 
race. 

She said nothing, but a few days after- 
wards returned from a shopping expedi- 
tion with three pairs of small, blunt- 
pointed scissors, and proceeded to help the 
children make many things with them. 

Lulu's face was a picture to delight an 
artist when, a few days later, she found 
herself sitting on the floor at Auntie's feet 
with the long-coveted pair of scissors in 
her hands and a whole newspaper to cut 
up just as she pleased. 

Simply cutting it into fragments satis- 
fied her at first, but Mrs. Brown knew she 
must not let activity expend itself aim- 
lessly, so she suggested that the pieces be 
cut very small and used to stuff a cushion, 
and stitching some turkey red cotton into 
a cover she gave it to her to fill. Many 



158 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

happy half -hours were spent in this work, 
and it was a very proud little girl who, 
on the visit of some 
privileged friend to 
nursery or verandah, 
brought out " my cush- 
ion " for them 
to sit on. 
Many dolls 




THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 159 

took their naps upon this cushion and 
it eventually became the bed of the 
pet kitten. Thus was a little soul fed, 
encouraged and trained to be a useful 
member of society as well as helped to 
realize the joy that comes alone to those 
who use their activity to bless the world. 

Cutting fringe to decorate dolls' clothes, 
the table cloth and the shelves of the toy 
case kept her busy for some time, coloured 
paper taking the place of newspaper as 
the fingers became more expert in han- 
dling the scissors. 

From this she passed to cutting pictures 
from old papers and magazines, being led 
thus to examine them carefully and gain 
much information from them, till she 
was able by and by to cut very creditable 
leaves, flowers and fruit freehand, thus 
unconsciously training eye and hand for 



160 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

future work. The best of these forms 
were saved and pasted in a scrap book, 
thus encouraging careful work and a desire 
to do one's best each time. 

For a week before little May's birthday, 
Lulu with Auntie's help spent the time 
when the former was having her daily nap 
in cutting beautiful doilies and other dec- 
orations for the table on that eventful oc- 
casion, the possession of such a happy se- 
cret filling her little heart with joy and 
drawing her nearer to her little sister. 

Another enjoyment was to fold squares 
of coloured paper into what the children 
called " Butterflies," which when cut gave 
a variety of forms to be pasted in a sym- 
metrical figure. 

Having supplied them with an abun- 
dance of paper, and scissors which it was 
safe for them to use, it was easy to teach 



THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTY 161 

them that they must not cut other things. 
Only once did Lulu forget, and the tiny 
lock was no sooner severed from May's 
head than she was filled with regrets for 
her thoughtlessness and quite willing to 
agree to the suggestion that the scissors 
must go into a box and remain there until 
she could teach her fingers not to cut the 
wrong thing. A whole day without the 
beloved scissors was enough to teach her 
the lesson and at the same time give her 
an insight into the importance of, " A 
place and a time for everything/ ' 



" Froebel taught that the true Christmas Tree for 
the child is the tree on which hang gifts made by the 
child for others. Too often children are made selfish 
at the time when of all the days in the year they 
should be trained to understand the joy of giving." 
— James L. Hughes. 

u The child will miss the joy of living, 
Unless he learns the joy of giving." 



CHAPTER V 

CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 

As the month of November neared its 
close Mrs. Brown began to make prepara- 
tions for the Christmas festival. 

Christmas had always been such a joy 
to her that she longed to have every child 
with whom she came in contact enter into 
its blessedness. 

Many a time she had listened with 
amazement to such exclamations as, " Oh! 
I am so tired of Christmas! ,? or, "I am 
always glad when Christmas is over once 
more," for into such feelings she found 
it impossible to enter, although her Christ- 
mases were now counted by the tens, and 

165 



166 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

she would answer " Oh! I hope I shall 
never be too old to thoroughly enjoy 
Christmas/' 

Pondering this question she came to the 
conclusion that Christmas might be spent 
in such a way as to make it a weariness 
as the years went by instead of the con- 
stantly growing joy it was surely intended 
to be. Listening to various groups of chil- 
dren as from time to time they discussed 
the subject, she found that in the majority 
of cases their pleasure was connected al- 
most entirely with the thought of getting, 
that the idea of Christmas as a special 
time for shedding abroad joy and happi- 
ness, of helping to make " Peace on earth, 
good- will to men," a practical reality for 
at least a few days during the year was 
an ideal of which they seemed almost un- 
conscious. 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 167 

As she looked back upon her own child- 
hood and realized how her father and 
mother had helped her to enter into the 
real meaning of Christmas while she was 
still a child, a deep feeling of gratitude 
rose up in her heart and made her long 
to do the same for other children. 

She remembered how weeks before 
Christinas she and her brothers and sis- 
ters began planning presents for each 
member of the family, how bits of work 
were carried to school to be worked on at 
recess, that mother's eye should not dis- 
cover the wonderful secret. 

Her heart still beat fast at the remem- 
brance of work carefully hidden away in 
drawers and boxes to be taken out and 
worked at stealthily lest the eye of the one 
whom it was intended to surprise should 
see it before the eventful day; of heads 



168 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

close together in the corner as they dis- 
cussed putting their pennies together to 
buy some coveted object for father, mother 
or grandparent, and of the quick dispersion 
with nods and hints of secrecy, as the per- 
son whose present they were discussing 
came in sight. How important they felt 
and how hard they tried to look as if they 
had only been discussing the weather! 

What shouts of joy there were when 
grandmamma carried off mother for the 
whole day and how fast their fingers flew 
as they made the most of the opportunity 
to work on her present! Very crude were 
those little presents, but, oh! how much 
love was worked into them as they 
watched them grow from day to day and 
pictured to themselves over and over again 
the happy moment when they could pre- 
sent them! How they ransacked the fash- 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 169 

ion and home magazines for new ideas 
which they could carry out, and how pa- 
tiently the older ones helped the younger! 

" Come to my house to tea and bring 
your mother's present to work on," was a 
frequent invitation of one school-girl to 
another, and any one who learned a new 
stitch in knitting or wool work or came 
across a new design for lamp-mat, book- 
mark, or any of the few articles they were 
capable of producing, at once became 
teacher to a class of willing pupils. " May 
I go to Mary's house, she is going to show 
me how to make so and so," was a familiar 
request in a mother's ears. 

She laughed heartily as she recalled how 
for several years, when she was about six 
or seven years old, she had knit father a 
gay pair of garters a yard or so in length 
and of every possible and impossible hue, 



170 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

for it was such fun to knit a little piece 
of one colour after another. Not for many 
years did she discover that gentlemen did 
not wear such garters, for they were al- 
ways received with great pleasure and 
much admiration, with a smile at mother 
as he said, " I was thinking it was time 
I had a new pair of garters. How good of 
little daughter to remember father and put 
in all those stitches for him! " Little did 
he think that thirty years after a gray- 
haired woman would look back and with 
tears in her eyes thank him for the little 
deception. 

He thought only that his little girl had 
patiently worked stitch by stitch at some- 
thing which in her innocence she felt was 
a need she could supply, and he accepted 
the love which prompted it. It was always 
so hard she remembered to find anything 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 171 

to make for father, and he always praised 
the made gift, however crude, so much 
more than the boughten one. 

The candy store lost its patronage at 
this time of the year for every penny was 
needed for presents. 

How eagerly the children watched for 
the first arrival of Christmas goods at the 
village shops and how quickly the an- 
nouncement of their arrival would be fol- 
lowed by a row of noses flattened against 
the panes of the window! 

She could still feel the ripple of excite- 
ment which passed over the schoolroom 
as it was whispered from one to another 
that Jennie Smith had come past Clarke's 
store and the clerks were opening big 
boxes that, of course, must contain Christ- 
mas goods! 

How would those funny little shops that 



172 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

had seemed to her then like a little bit out 
of Paradise look to her now, she won- 
dered! Would anything ever again look 
so truly beautiful as those Christmas dolls 
with their cold china heads and painted 
hair! How one hoped almost against 
hope that one of them would fall to her 
share ! 

Then how fast one's heart beat as her 
eyes fell on an article which was just the 
thing for brother or sister, and how tim- 
idly she entered the shop and asked the 
price, thinking that perhaps it cost many 
dollars, and how delightful to find it could 
be secured for thirty cents, particularly 
if one already had twenty cents saved up 
and Grandma had promised ten more for 
carrying her the newspaper every day! 

How eagerly they watched for small 
jobs by means of which a few pennies 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 173 

could be earned, and how kind they 
thought father when he said they might 
sweep his office every Saturday and he 
would pay them for it! 

They talked of and worked for Christ- 
mas during their waking hours, and 
dreamed of it all night. 

Then came the happy Sunday afternoon 
when they were asked to remain after 
school and practise carols for Christmas. 
It always seemed to bring Christmas so 
near when they began once more to sing, 
" Peace on earth, good- will towards men," 
and " Hark! the herald angels sing! " 

At last came the week before Christmas 
with the farmers bringing in trees and 
greens, the gathering in the church to 
make wreaths, stars, etc., and at home the 
stoning of raisins, washing of currants and 
chopping of candy-peel, in all of which, as 



174 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

well as in dusting and decorating the 
house, the children had a share. 

Father began creeping in with parcels 
peeping out of his coat pockets, when he 
and mother would disappear behind closed 
doors. 

How they longed to know what was in 
those parcels and how they hugged them- 
selves and one another as they whispered, 
" That parcel looked just like a doll. Oh, 
I hope it was! " 

The most fascinating feeling of mystery 
was on every side. Big brother was hid- 
den in the woodshed from whence issued 
the sound of hammer and saw — " Was it 
dolls' furniture, or a new sled? " 

When they were hustled off to bed a full 
half-hour earlier than usual, a proceeding 
they would have warmly resented at other 
times, they made not a word of protest, 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 175 

having a faint suspicion that it meant new 
dolls' clothes or other delightful things. 
And when at last the morning so eagerly 
looked forward to during the long, long 
year, really dawned and daylight found 
them joyously unpacking the stockings so 
carefully filled by Santa with the very 
things each most coveted, and they were 
at liberty to present to the other members 
of the family the gifts they had prepared, 
and to unburden their hearts of the many 
secrets they had so long held, — surely 
Heaven could provide no truer joy than 
was theirs. 

Mrs. Brown had entirely forgotten the 
present and was living in the happy past, 
from which she was aroused by Mr. 
Brown's coming in from the meeting he 
had been attending. She laughed as she 
admitted she had been day-dreaming and 



176 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
exclaimed, " Oh, Frank, we must help the 
children to enter into the real meaning of 
Christmas, it is too blessed an experience 
to lose out of one's life! " 

Some little time before this, to the great 
joy of the children, Mrs. Gray had written 
that she hoped to be with them for Christ- 
mas. 

Mrs. Brown's heart too had rejoiced at 
the different tone of her sister's letters as 
the months went by. She had written her 
very fully week by week of all the children 
were doing and of what she and Mr. Brown 
were trying to do for them, and the spark 
of true motherhood which had so long slum- 
bered in Mrs. Gray's heart had at last 
struck fire and was being fanned into a 
strong, steady flame. 

A few days later Mrs. Brown called the 
children around her and talked with them 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 177 

about Christmas, asking them if they 
would not each like to make a present for 
mother. 

To this they willingly agreed, although 
the younger ones had little idea what it 
meant. 

They only knew^ that anything Auntie 
proposed was likely to be a true pleas- 
ure. 

She had planned something which each 
one with a little help could do. Little May 
could string a long chain of straws and 
papers for mother to hang in her room, 
Lulu sew a flower on tinted cardboard and 
make it into a blotter, while Jamie with 
his coloured crayons could make a cal- 
endar representing the four seasons. 

She wished each to make something 
which it would take many days, working 
a little at a time, to complete, that they 



178 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

might absorb as much of the Christmas 
spirit as possible. 

This work nicely under way she talked 
to each separately of what he could make 
for the others. Lulu with her help could 
cut out a family of paper dolls for May, 
Uncle would show Jamie how to whittle 
some tops and boats for the girls and baby 
Robert, May could pick out all the pret- 
tiest buttons in Auntie's button box and 
string them for a necklace for Lulu. 

Nursie caught the spirit of it and had 
the children at certain times in her room 
working at some mystery which was not 
to be made known until Christmas. 

A few days after they began this work, 
when they ran into their play room, or 
nursery, after breakfast they found hang- 
ing on the wall, low enough for all to see 
and for the little ones to kiss and love, a 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 179 

beautiful Madonna and Child, or as the 
children called it, " The Mother and her 




Baby," and over and over again they heard 
the story of the Christmas Baby, the Star, 



180 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

and the Shepherds, till they knew it by 
heart. They drew and sewed pictures of 
the Shepherd's Crook and the Star, and 
represented with their blocks the stable 
and the manger till it all became very real 
to them and they loved it dearly. They 
also learned to sing very sweetly several 
simple Christmas carols that they might 
be able to tell Mother in this way all about 
it. 

The week before Christmas the little 
presents were all finished and the last few 
days were devoted to making chains, stars, 
flags and other decorations for the tree 
which Uncle, Jamie and the gardener cut 
down on the hill near by, and set up in 
the play-room ready to be lit on Christmas 
Eve when Mother came. 

The house was also decorated with green 
from top to bottom, the children sticking 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 181 

in pieces wherever they thought they 
looked pretty. 

One happy morning was spent by the 
children with Auntie and Nurse in a large 
toy shop. It was carefully explained to 
them beforehand that they would see many 
things they would like to have, but that 
these were for all the boys and girls in the 
city, so of course they could only have 
their share; each might choose one toy 
for herself and one for the little children 
of the kind woman who washed for them. 
Mrs. Brown felt it was not fair to take 
children to see so many things they would 
naturally like to possess without prepar- 
ing them as far as possible to understand 
the situation. 

In planning their own presents for the 
children Mr. and Mrs. Brown sought to get 
for each something which would be a real 



182 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

joy and pleasure to him for a long time. 
For the little girls they got strong, durable, 
yet beautiful dolls Avhich they could dress 
and undress to their heart's content, beds 
for them to sleep in and carriages in which 
to take them out. 

Jamie had a long wished for box of 
tools, made for real use, with a quantity 
of wood soft enough for him to saw and 
cut, and the new red sled on which he had 
set his heart. 

They also bought several beautiful pic- 
ture books which were to be the common 
property of all. 

Early on the morning of Christmas Eve 
the dear Mother arrived, and that was joy 
enough for one day. In the early evening, 
however, the tree was lit and the presents 
made by the children distributed, and what 
more beautiful sight is there in this world 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 183 

than a Christmas Tree with its twinkling 
lights, surrounded by a bevy of happy 
children's faces! Little Robert clapped 
his tiny hands and crowed with delight, 
and the older children could only be be- 
guiled to bed by the promise of having it 
lit again to-morrow evening. Even the an- 
ticipated visit of Santa Claus was for the 
time forgotten in the beauty of the tree 
and the joy of presenting to Mother, Aunt, 
Uncle, Nursie and Cook the gifts their lit- 
tle hands had so lovingly prepared. 

When a few hours later Mother and 
Auntie stole about amongst the sleeping 
children, filling each little stocking with 
the treasures so dear to childish hearts, 
they paused for a moment beside each bed, 
together praying that the Christ-Child 
might indeed take possession of each little 
heart and reign there. 



184 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

After breakfast Christmas morning the 
children gathered about the piano and 
sang their little carols, then sitting around 
the glowing Christmas fire amid the festive 




Christmas greens all took part in telling 
the Christmas Story. 

Later in the day Nursie went with them 
to carry the presents they had bought for 
the little children of their good washer- 



186 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

woman, and also a basket of Christmas 
goodies to an old lady and gentleman who 
lived near by. 

A couple of days after Christmas their 
little friends and playmates were invited 
to spend the afternoon with them, and 
what a truly happy time they had playing 
games, listening to music and stories, eat- 
ing a simple dainty lunch around a table 
beautifully decorated with flowers and 
lighted candles, pulling bonbons, dancing 
around the lighted tree on which was a 
simple present for each, then just before 
going home sitting quietly singing carols 
and listening to the Christmas Story told 
simply enough to interest the youngest 
listener, while so beautifully as to fasci- 
nate the oldest. 

"It is the most beautiful children's 
party I have ever seen," said one enthusi- 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 187 

astic mother, and many others were ready 
to echo her words. 

" My children are usually sick after a 
party," said another, " but this can leave 
only the happiest memories." 

" I want my children's idea of a party 
to be something higher than an occasion 
for eating a great many good things," re- 
plied Mrs. Brown. " Well, you have cer- 
tainly succeeded," was the unanimous an- 
swer. 

So without hurry, weariness or undue 
excitement the blessed Christinas season 
was lived through once more. A spirit of 
calm, serene happiness pervaded each day, 
making it a time of real soul-growth, such 
a time we trust as He whose birthday it 
is would have approved. Such a time 
as can be looked back upon in later years 
with real joy and gratitude, Mr. and Mrs. 



188 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
Brown and Mrs. Gray finding time to read 
together some of the beautiful thoughts on 
Christmas given us by our great writers, 
as well as for much quiet talk. 

" I never like to let Christmas go by 
without re-reading Dickens' Christmas 
stories and imbibing anew their teaching. 
How he did love Christmas! " said Mrs. 
Brown. 

After spending a few weeks in the Brown 
family Mrs. Gray was very loath to return 
with the children to their old home, and a 
house being vacant on the next street she 
was easily persuaded to rent it and move 
her belongings there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were very pleased 
at the prospect of having the children of 
whom they had grown so fond still near 
at hand, and as for the children — well, 
when Mrs. Brown told them that they were 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 189 

going to live just around the corner from 
her and Uncle, Jamie looked at her for a 
moment as if he could hardly believe such 
good news, then rushed at her and almost 
strangled her with hugs as he exclaimed, 
" Oh! I'm so glad; I didn't want to leave 
you at all. ' ' 

This arrangement suited all concerned, 
for as another little one would arrive at 
the Browns' home ere long Mrs. Brown 
was glad to have a little more leisure, and 
also glad that the children to whom she 
had been foster-mother would still be 
within easy reach and she might continue 
to watch over and assist in their develop- 
ment. 

Finding that several of her mother- 
friends also expected soon to renew their 
motherhood, she suggested to them that 
they should meet at one another's homes 



190 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

once a week and read together some of the 
many splendid books which were being 
written on the subject. This they gladly 
agreed to do. 

The first book they took up was Mrs. 
Proudfoot's " A Mother's Ideals," of 
which a copy had been sent to one of them. 
Their plan at first was for one to read a 
paragraph or two, then for all to discuss if, 
but so interested did they soon become 
that each wished to possess the book, and 
after that they all read certain portions 
at home for discussion at the club. In this 
way they gained much more than if each 
had read the book alone. 

They had been meeting thus for several 
weeks when one of them told of a young 
friend, a very bright, earnest girl, who ex- 
pected to be married in the course of a few 
months, and who hearing of these little 



CHRISTMAS IN THE HOME 191 

gatherings for child-study begged to be 
allowed to study with them. 

They were glad indeed to open their 
doors to her, for they each felt how much 
more they might have made of their fam- 
ily life had they studied these subjects 
before marriage. 

They realized that " the call has come 
to-day as never before for mothers to work 
and study together. 



?> 



" The real object of Froebel in the Mother-Play 
ivas to arouse the mother to a consciousness that she 
had in her hands the power to mould the ideal citi- 
zen, and through him to bring about the ideal social 
state. What crowned heads and legislators failed to 
do she might do, and when the grand co-operation of 
mother with mother might be established, in God's 
good time, they would mould for us the new race, the 
pure interdependent brotherhood, and make the way 
ready for the ' Christ that is to be.' " — Andrea 

HOFER PROTJDFOOT. 



CHAPTER VI 

A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 

" All gone ! the supper's gone ! 
White bread and milk so sweet, 
For baby dear to eat. 

All gone ! the supper's gone ! 
Where did baby's supper go % 
Tongue, you had a share I know. 
Little mouth, with open lips, 
Through your rosy gate it slips. 
Little throat, you know full well 
Where it went if you would tell. 

Little hands, grow strong; 

Little legs, grow long; 

Little cheeks, grow red ; 

You have all been fed." 

— Emily Huntingdon Millee. 
195 



196 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

So sang Mrs. Brown as she sat with 
Robert, who had just finished his supper 




of bread and milk, on her knee; and as 
she sang, Robert with wide-open eyes sol- 
emnly showed each part of his body as it 
was mentioned, then jumped down and ran 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 197 

around the room and back for the kiss 
which always ended this little game. 

Being a strong, healthy child, and living 
so much out of doors and so actively, he 
was always ready for his meals, and when 
quite young would clap his hands at the 
sight of the familiar blue bowl out of 
which he was usually fed. 

Mrs. Brown always fed him slowly, as 
she wished him to form this habit from 
the very beginning, and interspersed the 
mouthfuls with laughter and cheery words. 

He so enjoyed his food that the sight of 
the empty bowl brought a look of disap- 
pointment and wonderment to his face as 
Mrs. Brown said, " No more this time, lit- 
tle man; it's all gone." 

How thankful she was that her study 
of child-nature had taught her how to in- 
terpret the look on her child's face, this 



198 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

shadow so tiny now, but which if not dis- 
persed might grow into a heavy cloud 
which would darken his whole life! 

She knew that this look of wonderment 
meant that the young soul was beginning 
to grapple with the great thought of the 
constant change everywhere about us, and 
that it was most important that he should 
be led, little by little, to solve aright this 
problem so perplexing to many minds. 

A few minutes ago the bowl was full, 
now it was empty,— where had it gone? 
Who had taken it? Would it come back 
again? This was the unconscious ques- 
tioning of the young soul. 

To all appearance there was loss, de- 
struction, and he was the destroyer; he 
had caused something which was not to 
be, but he had come into the world, not to 
destroy but to build, and he must be helped 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 199 

to understand the part lie was playing, to 
see that he had not really destroyed any- 
thing but only made it over into something 
else and something better. So Mrs. Brown 
would pinch the rosy cheek and say, 
" Here it is. Here is the bread and milk 
in these rosy cheeks,' ' and putting him on 
the floor would say, " Now creep away, 
little man, the bread and milk has made 
you strong and active,' ' till, little by little, 
he grasped the connection between the 
food he had eaten and his bodily health 
and strength, and so had his first lesson 
in temperance, namely, that, " We eat to 
live, not live to eat," so that when by and 
by he was refused more cake or candy 
with the words, " Only a little candy, now 
and then, for candy doesn't make as strong 
bodies as bread or potatoes," he was ready 
to acquiesce and deny himself the luxury, 



200 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

thus taking the first step in mastering the 
body. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were greatly helped 
by Mr. Snider 's Commentary on the " All- 
Gone " song, especially enjoying the fol- 
lowing thoughts. 

" The child will not only eat, but when 
he has eaten he will know the meaning 
of eating; his appetite may be satisfied 
with his meal, but his soul is unsatisfied 
just with his body's satiety, till he finds 
out what this whole business of eating 
means. He soon perceives that when he 
has swallowed his porridge he has made 
something into nothing, but in this diabolic 
condition of destroyer he cannot rest. 
His act must be connected with its total 
process ere he can have peace, which 
comes when he sees the positive outcome. 
Thus the child gets a hint of the move- 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 201 

ment which overcomes the vanishing and 
is more deeply satisfied by his knowledge 
than by his porridge, though he must 
have the porridge too, and have it first. 
... So Froebel will have the child begin, 
quite before he can talk, to have a pre- 
sentiment of the whole, especially in mat- 
ters immediately connected with him and 
coming under his observation. The child 
must have his little grapple with the van- 
ishing at the very start of independent 
existence when he begins to take nourish- 
ment free of his mother's breast. He sees 
that which he eats disappearing: what 
does it mean? As before said he feels 
himself a destroyer and the destroyer pure 
and simple is the Devil; no wonder that 
the child feels uncomfortable; he wants to 
get out of such company, and the mother 
if she is wise will at once give him her 



202 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
help. Alack-a-day! she may not be wise, 
she may not know what to do, and so leave 
the little fellow to struggle with the 
fiends all by himself. Still the child 
cannot do without this negative element of 
life; he has to pass through it in one 
form or another; the great point is, that 
he be not allowed to stick fast in it during 
the passage.' ' 

It always made Mrs. Brown feel very 
serious to read such things and think how 
without the help of such teachers she 
would have been totally unfit to guide her 
children safely through these dark mazes. 
She felt how little her college course had 
fitted her to be a true interpreter of life 
to the young souls who should look to her 
for guidance and direction during their 
early life, and she determined to work and 
pray for the coming of the time when an 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 203 

earnest study of child nature, its needs 
and grand possibilities, should be a regular 
part of the school course for both boys 
and girls, the future parents of the race; 
when the profession of parenthood should 
require at least as careful preparation as 
that of law or medicine. 

The thought of the thousands of young 
men and women who every year entered 
into marriage without the slightest prep- 
aration for parenthood, and the conse- 
quent dwarfed and twisted lives all about 
us, saddened her heart and stirred her to 
action, for she felt that woman must solve 
this problem, and by educating public 
opinion, woman alone could bring about 
a better state of affairs. 

"If to make a dress properly, to keep 
a set of books, or teach a school demands 
thought and study, surely to guide a young 



204 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

soul requires much more. If I desire to 
be a trained nurse, a stenographer, a dress- 
maker or milliner, I must go through a 
course of training, of apprenticeship, soci- 
ety demands it; how is it that this same 
society allows, nay almost forces me, to 
enter into motherhood without one hour's 
training for its duties," she would ex- 
claim. "It is only by chance the books 
and help I needed fell in my way before 
I became a mother; the majority of 
mothers do not even know there are such 
books." 

So while striving to feed little Robert's 
body and even more carefully his mind 
and soul, she stood with hands out- 
stretched to other mothers that she might, 
if possible, help them to find the light she 
had found and which had so enriched her 
life. 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 205 

Thus was this little soul led step by 
step to unravel the web of life, led to find 
everywhere the Positive overcoming the 
Negative and taught that while on the sur- 
face there was constant motion, constant 
change, it was only the outer form, the ef- 
fect, which changed; underneath was the 
unchangeable Cause. 

" Know of a truth," says Carlyle, " that 
only the Time Shadows have perished or 
are perishable; that the real Being of 
whatever was and whatever is and what- 
ever will be is even now and for ever . . . 
symbols, forms, must decay and vanish, 
while Truth weaves for herself new, 
higher forms of expression." 

When tears sprang to baby's eyes at 
the departure of father or playmate, 
mother would dry them by talking of 
and making plans for the return. 



206 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

His look of disappointment when the 
candles went out one by one on the 
Christmas Tree he had so enjoyed was 
dispersed by the promise of seeing them 
again next year. 

When the children watched the leaves 
fall from the trees in the fall Mrs. Brown 
helped them by means of stories, games 
and songs, to know winter as Nature's 
sleeping time and led their thoughts for- 
ward to the joyous new birth of spring. 

She stirred their imaginations by help- 
ing them to play that they were cater- 
pillars crawling about on the ground, 
then, after a time of rest, waking up, no 
longer caterpillars but glorious, free but- 
terflies. 

The little game of the birds flying South 
for the winter always ended with their 
flying back in the spring. 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 207 

The ennui, or " all gone " feeling that 
sometimes creeps into a family when 
Christmas or birthday, around which their 
thoughts have been for some time closely 
centred, has gone by, she prevented by 
having some fresh interest, or new line 
of work, to suggest. 

By many such experiences did Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown prepare the children to under- 
stand death when by and by it should 
come into their experience; to feel, as 
Phillips Brooks so beautifully puts it, 
that " Death is merely one of the events 
in life, not the end of life," and to believe 
with Froebel " that we most shall live 
when men shall call us dead." 

Alas, how many children are allowed 
to look upon death as a dark, horrible 
abyss ! 

" Continuity of existence, without break 



208 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

or interruption, is the fundamental idea 
that needs inculcation, not only among 
children but among ignorant people gen- 
erally/ ' says Sir Oliver Lodge. 

The Picture illustrating the All-Gone 
song draws our attention to the fact that 
not only must we help the child to realize 
that the food he eats returns to him but 
that his deed returns also, that our char- 
acters are made by the thoughts we think, 
the deeds we do. 

Lulu was particularly fond of this pic- 
ture and would often sit quietly looking 
at it for some minutes, and asked Auntie 
over and over to tell her about it. She 
named the little girl Mary, and Mrs. Brown 
overheard her one day soliloquizing as she 
looked at the picture, "I'm sorry you 
lost your bird, Mary, but if you are good, 
I think your mother will get you another 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 209 

and then you'll be more careful, won't you, 
and not leave the door open." 

In order that the children might realize 
that the deed does indeed return upon the 
doer, that as a man sows so must he reap, 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown strove to make any 
punishment they found necessary the 
natural outcome of the deed done; when 
Robert was too rough with pussy he was 
deprived of her company; if he cried or 
fretted he was quietly taken from the 
room and his parents' society. Noisy or 
troublesome behaviour at the table re- 
sulted in the chair of the small offender 
being moved back until he was ready to 
behave nicely. When Jamie carelessly 
left his knife lying about until it was lost 
he had to get on as best he could with a 
blunt kitchen knife until he learned to 
take care of a better one. Naughtiness 



210 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

on the street invariably resulted in one's 
being left at home next time. 

Quiet action took the place of scolding, 
or fault finding, and was much more effect- 
ive in immediate results as well as in habit- 
forming. 

When Robert was old enough to enjoy 
a drink of milk his mother felt he should 
begin to find out to whom he was indebted 
for it, so she took him again and again to 
see the cows. 

Sometimes he saw them being milked 
and had a taste of the fresh warm milk, 
again he saw them eating the grass or 
quietly chewing the cud in the grassy 
field, and still again eating hay in the 
barn. Then they went to see the hay 
mown and stored in the barn. 

On these visits, when they were often 
accompanied by the Gray children, they 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 211 

carried some apple or other dainty to feed 
the cows, and Robert was soon brave 




enough to pat their backs and stroke their 
faces while Mother said, " Thank you, 



212 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

good cow, for the nice milk you give us," 
or, " Eat away, good cows, and fill your 
bags full of milk; we shall want some for 
supper." 

After that they never passed a cow 
without stopping to say, " Thank you," 
and Robert, of his own accord, for a long 
time never took a drink of milk without 
first thanking the cows for it. 

Mrs. Brown tacked some good pictures 
of cows low on the nursery wall, and even 
before he could walk Robert would creep 
to them and, raising himself by a chair, 
pat and kiss them, saying as he did so, 
"Moo, Moo." 

The picture and song of Grass Mowing 
in the Mother-Play was an endless source 
of interest to the children as they pointed 
out Peter mowing the grass, the wagon 
carrying it to the barn, Lena milking the 



\ 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 213 

cow and making bntter and the mother 
giving a cnp of milk to the baby; or 
swung their arms in imitation of mow- 
ing. 

May loved to move about on all fours, 
crying " Moo-moo/' and eating imaginary 
grass, while she and Lulu both thought 
it great fun to represent milking, using 
the fingers of one hand for the teats which 
they milked with the other, then carrying 
the imaginary cup of milk to Robert to 
drink. 

When through their own experiences in 
digging little flower-beds, planting seeds 
and helping plants to grow, they had 
learned something of the part sunshine 
and rain play in plant life, they learned 
many little hymns which helped them to 
feel their heavenly Father's love working 
in and through and by these things, and 



214 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

were able to sing with understanding and 
joy before each meal, 

" For the fruit upon the tree, 
For the birds that sing of thee, 
For the earth in beauty drest, 
Father, Mother and the rest, 
For thy precious, loving care, 
For thy bounty everywhere, 
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee," 

for they were beginning to realize some- 
thing of the interdependence of all men 
as well as of man's dependence on Nature 
and Nature's God. 

"If in childhood we give the ideal of 
interdependence the man will grow up to 
see his responsibilities/' says Mrs. Proud- 
foot. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown intended to bring 
up their children so that as men or women 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 215 

they would feel that, " He who lives with- 
out doing his share is the only beggar, 
though he call himself rich." 

In order to realize this aim they seized 
every opportunity to illustrate to them 
the solidarity of the race. When they 
were rejoicing in new dresses, or coats, 
they raised their joy from a merely sen- 
sual one to the spiritual plane by leading 
them through work and play, song and 
story which traced the process by means 
of which these things came to them, lead- 
ing them thus to see that they were in- 
debted not only to Father and Mother, but 
to many unknown workmen in shop and 
factory, to the sheep on the hillside, and 
to Him whose love is manifested in all 
these ways. 

They were also helped to trace the 
process by means of which they had their 



216 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
cake and bread. Baking day was always 
eagerly looked forward to, for each had 
a lump of dough to roll with his tiny roll- 
ing pin and bake in his little jDans. 

They were taken too to see the wheat 
growing in the fields and to a flour mill, 
while it was a never forgotten experience 
to crush a few grains of wheat between 
a cube and a sphere and thus make some 
' k really ' ' flour. Water-wheels were . quite 
the fashion at this time and were con- 
structed in many ways, sometimes of 
blocks or sticks, sometimes of chairs, but 
best of all. when they had a number of 
playmates, of the children themselves, four 
children standing in the centre with 
crossed hands forming the wheel, while the 
rest joined hands and made the stream 
which turned it. And as their little voices 
rang out, 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 217 

" I'm small I know, 
But wherever I go 
The fields grow greener still," 

Auntie's heart rejoiced as she remem- 
bered Froebel's words, " The plays of 
childhood become the realities of later 
life," and the prayer arose in her heart 
that of each of them it might indeed be 
true that wherever they went, " the field 
grew greener still. ' ' 

But well she knew that nothing in this 
world comes by chance, but that, on the 
contrary, all is cause and effect, so that 
if we desire a certain effect in manhood or 
womanhood we must set at work in child- 
hood the causes which will in course of 
time produce that effect. 

Neglect childhood, treat the first mental 
and spiritual outgoings as of little or no 
account, and it will be useless to look in 



218 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

manhood for the full, ripe fruit. Child- 
hood is the seeding time, maturity the 
harvest and 

" Whatsoe'er the sowing be, 
Reaping, we its fruit shall see." 

That the children might from the first 
know themselves one with all others, that 
the feeling of one-ness with all, of brother- 
hood, which lies in germ in every little 
soul, might not be crushed, but fed and 
nourished by daily experiences until it 
grew into a grand, glorious reality, mak- 
ing of all creation one united, loving fam- 
ily with one Father working in, and 
through, and by each, was her conscious 
aim. 

She felt that by nourishing this feeling 
of unity by her daily life and conversation 
with the children as well as by the games, 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 219 

songs, stories and pictures with which she 
surrounded them, she was giving the first 
lessons in true religion. They were not 
ready for abstract teaching, but must have 
great truths presented in symbols; they 
must be led in their own childish way " to 
live the life if they would know of the doc- 
trine. " 

She felt the truth of the words of 
Phillips Brooks, " While men believe in 
the possibilities of children being religious, 
they are largely failing to make them so, 
because they are offering them not a 
child's but a man's religion — man's 
forms of faith and man's forms of expe- 



rience." 



She loved to ponder Froebel's words: 
" This feeling of community first uniting 
the child with mother, father, brothers and 
sisters, and resting on a higher, spiritual 



220 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

unity, to which, later on is added the un- 
mistakable discovery that father, mother, 
brothers, sisters, human beings in general, 
feel and know themselves to be in com- 
munity and unity — with humanity, with 
God — this feeling of community is the 
very first germ, the very first beginning 
of all true religious spirit, of all genuine 
yearning in unhindered unification with 
the eternal, with God. Genuine and true, 
living religion, reliable in danger and 
struggles, in time of oppression and need, 
in joy and pleasure, must come to man 
in his infancy; for the Divine spirit that 
lives and is manifested in the finite, in 
man, has an early though dim feeling of 
its divine origin; and this vague senti- 
ment, this exceedingly misty feeling should 
be fostered, strengthened, nurtured, and 
later on raised into full consciousness, 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 221 

into clear apprehension. It is, therefore, 
not only a touching sight for the quiet 
and unseen observer, but productive of 
eternal blessings for the child, when the 
mother lays the sleeping infant upon his 
couch with an intensely loving, soulful 
look to their heavenly Father, praying 
Him for fatherly protection and loving 
care. 

" Therefore the true mother is loath to 
let another put the sleeping child to bed, 
or take from it the awakened child.' ' 

Along the same lines writes Miss Blow: 
" The one great difficulty in the way of 
carrying out FroebePs ideal of religious 
development is our own lack of vital piety. 
It is easy to teach catechisms, it is not 
easy to awaken and foster faith, hope and 
love. Any mother may force her child to 
memorize men's definitions of Grod, but 



222 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

only one who lias herself a filial spirit can 
teach him to know his heavenly Father. 
She whose own soul is dead may be a 
religious drill sergeant, but only the living 
spirit can communicate spiritual life." 

Oh, how the world needs and hungers 
for vital religion, reliable in danger and 
struggles, in times of oppression and need, 
in joy and pleasure! What a poor, dead, 
unsatisfying thing is the religion of thou- 
sands who call themselves Christians ! How 
little of real joy and inspiration they find 
in it! Is it not with too many an empty 
observance of fomis and ceremonies hav- 
ing little or no vital connection with their 
daily life and aspiration? How meaning- 
less to many are the words " The King- 
dom of Heaven is within you," exclaimed 
Mrs. Brown after reading these words to 
her husband. 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 223 

With the thought of developing the feel- 
ing of oneness with all as the first step in 
true religion, Mrs. Brown would stop as 
they passed a blacksmith's shop, that Rob- 
ert might enjoy seeing the sparks fly from 
the red-hot iron, and say, " Good, kind 
blacksmiths to help make Robert's car- 
riage," and when he grew older told him 
fascinating tales of the miners at work in 
the deep, dark mine. When they passed 
carpenters at work on a building, she would 
say, as they watched them, " Kind carpen- 
ters to make nice houses for little Roberts 
and Mays to live in," and encourage him 
to imitate hammering and sawing. 

Sometimes they would play that Father 
was a tall tree and they were woodmen 
cutting it down to make firewood or sup- 
ply the carpenter with boards; then how 
Robert would clap his hands and shout 



224 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
as, after much vigorous chopping, the tree 
began to sway back and forth and pres- 
ently fell to the ground. 

Through such imaginary play they not 
only helped him to connect all things 
about him with one another but peopled 
the great unknown world with friends 
and helpers, not as is so often thought- 
lessly done, with dangers, enemies and 
fear. 

When the children grew older a favour- 
ite subject of conversation at meal time 
was to trace the different articles of food 
through the process of their production 
or manufacture. By this means much 
valuable information was gathered, but 
better still, the habit of logical thinking, 
of tracing effects back to their causes, was 
engendered, and feelings of love and 
good-will to men awakened. 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 225 

" Nothing, " says Froebel, " is more 
dangerous to the health of the intellect, 
nothing is more prejudicial to the culture 
of the heart, than the habit of looking at 
particular objects and events in detach- 
ment from the great whole of life." 

" May not the child receive even in 
babyhood a prejudice in favour of the 
universal life, and from the beginning of 
his conscious career live in the clear sun- 
light and fresh air of the generic ideal, 
instead of being shut up in the prison 
walls of his own atomic individuality? " 
asks Miss Blow. 

Mrs. Brown found, too, that these ef- 
forts to help her children feel that all 
men are brothers, the children of one 
Father working together, consciously or 
unconsciously, for the good of the race, 
aroused and strengthened her own feeling 



226 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

of fellowship and gave her a more real, 
genuine love towards all. 

In many ways both she and her husband 
felt their own lives broadening and deep- 
ening; theories which had been hardly 
more than theories became actualities as 
they strove to make their lives fit cop- 
ies for their little son. God in giving 
them a little child to train was training 
them. 

They proved the truth of the teaching 
that it is only by becoming as little chil- 
dren that we can enter the Kingdom of 
Heaven. By truly living with their 
children, that is, learning to see as they 
see, hear as they hear and feel as they 
feel, they were led back to the paths of 
simplicity and truth where alone peace 
is to be found. How often parents lose 
this great blessing because they fail to 



A BOWL OF BREAD AND MILK 227 

reverently study God's thought as ex- 
pressed in their child! 

How truly Froebel says: " As we help 
your young souls to expand, our own, 
in the sweet task, shall grow toward 
heaven.' ' 



Dear little children, we will learn from you, 
Gardens well make, and you the flowers shall be, 
Our care shall seem no tedious drudgery — 
Only a happy trust that's ever new. 

We'll guard you from the great world's strife and 

din; 
But, ah, our chief est, gladdest care shall be 
To give you your own selves! to help you see 
The meaning of each opening power within. 

Oh, blessed thought, that God to us has given 
The finishing of that which he has planned; 
And as we help your young souls to expand, 
Our own, in the sweet task, shall grow toward 
heaven/' 

— Froebel. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE MIRROR OF NATURE 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown never lost sight of 
the trnth that the ultimate aim of edu- 
cation was that the individual might find 
himself, was self-knowledge, and that this 
process began in the cradle and continued 
all through life. They knew also that 
self-knowledge grew by the two-fold 
means of reflection and introspection. 

The mirrors in which man sees him- 
self reflected and so comes to self-con- 
sciousness are his own actions, the actions 
of others, and Nature. 

They therefore sought to supply their 
children with opportunities for many 

231 



232 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

sided activity, they planned much com- 
panionship with children at their own 
stage of development and had them live 
much with Nature. 

In order that they might enjoy the 
society of children of different characters 
and dispositions, which is so important 
for their true unfolding, and might have 
it under wise and loving supervision, Mrs. 
Brown never rested until she had aroused 
sufficient interest in their neighbourhood 
to have a good Kindergarten established. 

Looking into the Browns' yard during 
the spring and summer one might often 
find the children with small, gaily painted 
watering-cans, rakes, spades and wheel- 
barrows busy gardening, for each child 
had from babyhood his own little garden 
in which he was encouraged, year after 
year, to grow both flowers and vegetables, 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 233 

their parents feeling with Prof. Hodge, 
" To allow a child to grow up without 
planting a seed or rearing a plant is a 
crime against civilized society. . . . The 




child that puts forth creative effort to 
make the world better, the child that 
plants a seed or cares for the life of an 
animal, is working hand in hand with 
Nature and the Creator, and what higher 
religious development can we desire than 



234 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 
that he become the reflected image of 
God! ... In a child that has never reared 
anything of its own there is little or no 
foundation upon which to build regard 
for the rights of others in these respects." 
So in this sunny garden summer after 
summer was enacted Froebel's picture in 
the Mother-Play: 

" In the sunlit garden, 
Through the glad spring day, 
Watch the happy little folks 
Turning work to play. 

" Guarding, watering, tending, 
With such pretty zeal, 
Doing from their little hearts 
As if the flowers could feel. 

" Such work does not tire them, 
For they love it so ; 
And are thanked in measure full, 
If the flowers grow." 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 235 

And how serious and reverent were the 
little faces as they looked at the tiny seeds 
in each of which Mother had told them a 
little fairy lay asleep that would, if they 
prepared a nice bed for it and put it care- 
fully in, soon wake up! 

How they watched day after day to 
see once again this miracle of Nature, 
and what joy filled their little hearts when 
the tiny plant appeared above ground and 
grew taller and taller till finally buds 
and flowers appeared to reward their toil 
and patience! 

Were there ever such daisies and pan- 
si es as grew in those gardens and were 
plucked to adorn the breakfast table or 
carried as a birthday gift to some dear 
friend? 

Then what joy to eat radishes and let- 
tuce which one had himself grown! 



236 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

When a rainy day came and interfered 
with their plans for ont-door pleasure how 
quickly the sunshine came back to their 
faces at Father's suggestion of the joy 
the rain would be to the grass and flow- 



ers! 



How much easier to be patient and 
happy on a broiling July day when one 
realized that the heat was helping to 
mature the fruit! 

How hard it was at first to refrain 
from digging up the seeds, or drowning 
them with water from the new watering 
cans, and what self-control and faith was 
developed as they mastered their impulse, 
because " it would not be kind to the 
little seeds! " 

It was a gay little party that responded 
to mother's song: 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 237 

" Come, children, with me 
To the garden away, 
The flowers are all waiting 
Our coming to-day. 
In heart and in sunshine 
Is drooping each leaf, 
But the children are coming 
To bring them relief." 

And the feeling of responsibility grew 
apace as they began to realize through 
their own experience that even little chil- 
dren had power to help and save weaker 
things ! 

Then in the yard behind the house was 
the home of the chickens, the rabbits and 
the pigeons. 

" Why do you bother with hens when 
eggs and chickens are both so plentiful 
in the market? " a neighbour would some- 
times ask. " For the children's sake," 
was the answer. 



238 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME • 

The tiny ones of the family seemed 
never tired of watching and feeding the 
mother hens and their babies, and often 
made remarks which showed their mother 
how much they were learning from them. 
" When the mother calls, the chickens run 
so quick and so do I," was one remark. 
" Pussy got into the chicken yard and 
the little chicks all ran so fast to their 
mother and she chased Pussy away," was 
another. 

The mother hen sitting so patiently 
week after week on her eggs was a good 
object lesson for old and young. 

The weakness and helplessness of the 
baby rabbits, pigeons, kittens and pup- 
pies, and the patient, self-sacrificing care 
of the mothers appealed strongly to the 
children and helped them to realize some- 
thing of the meaning of motherhood and 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 239 

childhood, while pictures, stories and 
games helped to deepen the impression. 

Crumbs were alwaj^s saved from meals 
and scattered for the wild birds, and great 
was the joy of the children when one was 
discovered building her nest in one of 
their trees. Mrs. Brown had watched 
anxiously for an opportunity to show 
them a family of tiny birds in their nest, 
for she felt this was an experience she 
would not willingly have them lose. 

" In the pretty picture 
Of the nested birds 
Baby reads his l love-song/ 
Written without words — 
Hears the nestlings calling, 
And his heart calls, too ; 
As they need their mother, 
So his heart needs you " 

says Froebel. 



240 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

It was a pretty sight to see the little 
heads bent over the picture of the Birds ' 
Nest in the Mother Play Book while 
Mother told the story and showed them 
how to make a nest with their hands, 
using the thumbs for the bobbing heads 
of the baby birds as they cried, " Peep, 
peep. Mother dear, peep. You are much 
loved. Peep, peep." 

" The feeilng that all life is one life 
slumbers in the child's soul. Only very 
gradually, however, can this slumbering 
feeling be transfigured into a wakening 
consciousness. Slowly, through a sym- 
pathetic study of Nature and of human 
life, through a growing sense of the soul 
and meaning of all natural facts and of 
all human relationships, and through re- 
creating in various forms that external 
world which is but the objective expres- 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 241 

sion of his own inmost being, the indi- 
vidual attains to a consciousness of the 
connectedness and unity of life, and to a 
vision of the Eternal Fountain of Life. 
Through the play of the Birds' Nest, 
Mother, you take a few short steps upon 
one of the paths which lead towards this 
goal; viz., the path which, starting from 
sympathy with Nature, runs through study 
of Nature to comprehension of the forces, 
laws, and inner meaning of Nature. You 
are incited to enter upon this path by 
your feeling that a prophetic sense of the 
inner connection of Nature stirs and 
dreams in your child's heart. You also 
feel that there is no single object in 
Nature which has more power to lift his 
dreaming presentiment into waking con- 
sciousness than a bird's nest," writes 
Froebel. 



242 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

His teaching is that man, " a single 
vital spark of the Divine flame," " seeks 
and must ever seek Unity, the Being that 
is One in and for itself — God, ' ' and that 
in the objective world he sees the Life 
with which he is one reflected, and through 
this reflection comes gradually to realize 
that union with all things which alone 
brings peace, therefore he tells us: " The 
yearning to inhale the life of Nature 
awakens early in the human soul. The 
young child loves to take it in with long 
deep breaths. Hence he longs to be out 
of doors and especially to watch the 
quick, free movements of birds and ani- 
mals. Mother, cherish this longing, and 
whenever possible, give your child that 
intimacy with Nature which he craves; 
but do not imagine that his craving 
can be stilled by any merely external 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 243 

experience. His soul seeks the soul of 
things.' ' 

It was Mrs. Brown's deepest longing to 
be to her children the interpreter of life 
which it is the mother's high privilege 
to be. Together she and her children 
lived with and lovingly studied Nature, in 
her many forms. Like the little Hiawatha 

they — 

" Learned of every bird its language, 
Learned their names and all their secrets, 
How they built their nest in summer, 
Where they hid themselves in winter, 
Talked with them whene'er he met them, 
Called them ' Hiawatha's chickens.' " 
Together they watched and sympa- 
thized with every phase of Nature, sup- 
plementing their own observations with 
the best books, pictures and poems they 
could procure, although in order to do 
so they were obliged to wear plainer 



244 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

clothing and deny themselves some lux- 
uries. 

The smallest and apparently meanest 
of Life's children was in their family 
treated with respect because it was the 
dear Father's handiwork, and so a deep 
feeling of reverence was inculcated in 
each little heart. Nature was a great pic- 
ture book spread before the children's 
eyes, and little ears were ever alert to 
hear the faintest whisper from Mother 
Nature. The things of Nature were their 
constant toys and playmates. 

Little by little through the long sum- 
mer days were the mysteries of plant and 
insect life unfolded to them. With never- 
waning interest they watched the bees 
carrying the " gold dust " from plant to 
plant and receiving the drop of sweet 
juice in payment, or traced with gentle 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 245 

fingers the lines and markings which 
pointed out to them the way to the 
flowers' " pantry. " 

Then what fun on a rainy day to play 
that they themselves were bees gathering 
honey from the coloured balls which were 
for the time being roses or lilies, and 
storing it for winter in the imaginary 
hives built of blocks, or to be in their 
lively imaginations father and mother 
birds busily building nests and caring for 
hungry broods of young ones! What 
glorious birds' nests filled with eggs were 
made with the clay ! What hours they spent 
watching the wonderful little ants at their 
daily work, and all unconsciously ab- 
sorbing lessons in industry and persever- 
ance which would stand them in good 
stead later on! 

How they all, even baby, gloried in the 



246 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

beautiful moonlight evenings! Great 
waves of pity rolled over Mrs. Brown's 
heart for the mothers who allowed them- 
selves to be " too busy " in social, or 
other supposed duties, to enjoy these 
things with their children — mothers in 
name but in heart knowing nothing of 
the joys of true motherhood, all uncon- 
sciously losing the real joys of life in order 
to seize a few empty useless husks. 
" Father, open the eyes of mother that 
they may see the truth," was her con- 
stant prayer. 

Then indoors in the early winter eve- 
nings what fun they all had trying to 
make shadow pictures on the wall, and 
how skilful some of the little fingers be- 
came till jumping rabbits and long-necked 
swans seemed to fill the room. 

On bright, sunshiny days what jolly 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 247 

times they had chasing the Light Bird as 
it flitted here and there as a mirror was 
moved in the sunlight, and how strange 
to find after much experimenting that no 
matter how hard one tried he could not 
catch and hold it, and what a deep light 
came into little eyes as they sang, 

" No hand can catch the light-bird, 
The pretty bird, the bright bird, 
But eyes can catch and hearts can hold, 
The light-bird on the wall," 

and began to realize that there was an- 
other way to possess things besides physi- 
cal possession. 

How wonderful it seemed to the chil- 
dren that the same sun and moon which 
gave them light also gave light to Aunt, 
Uncle and little cousins in far-away 
Japan, and shone upon the vessel in 






248 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

which Grandpapa was now returning 
from England ! 

They loved to peep out of the window 

just before jumping 
into bed and say, 
" Shine on, little stars, 
and light all the little 
boys and girls in the 
world/' then to hop 
under the warm cov- 
ers and sing, " Twin- 
kle, twinkle, little 
star," or on moonlight 
nights, one of their 
dearly - loved Moon 
Songs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were encouraged 
and helped in all this work by the beau- 
tiful mottoes of the Mother-Play Book, 
such as — 




THE MIRROR OF NATURE 249 

" All that is noble in your child is stirred, 
And every energy to action spurred 
By Nature's silent, oft-repeated word. 

" He sees the moon glide on her silver way ; 
He sees the stars return with closing day ; 
He sees each plant some hidden law obey. 

" No wonder that he thinks an inner spring 
Of love creative lives in everything, 
And bids it to his life an offering bring. 

" And as the bright unbroken chain returns 
In beauty on itself, his spirit yearns 
Towards that great love which dimly he dis- 
cerns." 

The pictures illustrating the Mother- 
Play Light Songs were examined by the 
children over and over again and the 
stories connected with them told and re- 
told. Robert was particularly interested 
at one time in the little boy who is cry- 



250 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

tag because lie has broken a window; 
Froebel's closing words, " Sometimes we 
are like this little boy: we do something 
which keeps light from getting into our 
hearts. Then what a sad time we have 
in the dark and how much trouble we 
have to take before we can get the light 
again," making a deep impression on his 
mind. His father had first told it to him 
one day when he had been untruthful and 
was consequently not as happy as usual, 
and he asked for it many thnes after- 
wards, seeming to gain much help from 
it. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown carefully guarded 
the children lest their love for animals 
should be, as Froebel says, a door through 
which evil might stray into their lives. 

" The interest a young child gives 
To every animal that lives, 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 251 

Dear mother, is an open door 
Through which unbounded good may pour, 
Filling his mind with knowledge manifold, 
Of Nature's wondrous laws, so new, so old. 

" But watch ! lest by this self -same way 
Into his soul some ill may stray, 
And, while your eyes look other where, 
Make for itself a lodgment there. 
Watch and with noble thoughts so fill his mind, 
That passing evil may no shelter find." 



They strove by means of the stories, 
songs, pictures and plays with which 
they interpreted the children's daily ex- 
periences to keep their little minds 
so centred on the beautiful and true 
that passing evil might indeed " no shel- 
ter find " there. Then when occasion 
arose they carefully explained to the 
children that there were things which 



252 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

animals might do because they were only 
animals, and knew no better, which it 
w r ould be very wrong for boys and girls, 
who knew so much more than animals, 
to do. Cats and dogs knew no better than 
to scratch and bite one another, or chase 
and kill weaker animals. Ponto treated 
all other dogs as enemies and drove them 
out of the yard, but boys and girls liked 
to share their good times with all others. 

Mrs. Brown found too that she must be 
continually on the alert to direct the con- 
versation quietly and pleasantly into other 
channels when neighbours or friends 
thoughtlessly related tales of accidents 
or crime in the children's hearing, for 
she felt that great care should be exer- 
cised to wisely present the negative side 
of life to the unfolding mind. 

Froebel's words, " Only the conviction 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 253 

that it is the darkness within which 
makes the darkness without can restore 
the lost peace of our souls," came home 
as a great awakening thought to both 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown as together they 
studied the Light Songs of the Mother 
Play. 

They felt how greatly the world to-day 
needs to realize this truth, to be taught 
to look within, into our own characters, 
our state of awakenment or sleep, for the 
cause of whatever comes to us. The 
Light shines ever bright, clear, steady, 
to illuminate our daily path and fill us 
with joy and hope, but how often we turn 
our backs upon " the light that lighteth 
everv man that cometh into the world,' 1 
and then complain of the darkness and 
misery! So tightly closed are the doors 
and windows of many hearts, so clogged 



254 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

with worldliness, selfishness or prejudice, 
that the blessed light finds not a chink 
through which to penetrate. Therefore 
by means of many little games, songs and 
stories they strove to develop the chil- 
dren's inherent love of light, and so to 
lead them, step by step, to the spiritual 
light of which the sun and moon are but 
the symbol. Good morning was always 
sung to the sunshine and the children fre- 
quently taken out of doors in the early 
evening to see the moon and stars. In- 
deed, at one time Robert would never 
go willingly to bed until he had been 
taken out to see if the moon were shin- 
ing and to wave " Good night ' to the 
stars. 

In the same way they corrected the 
error into which the child is apt to fall 
when he judges alone by what his senses 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 255 

tell him (which error is emphasized by 
the careless expressions of grown people) 
and led him to realize that the apparent 
rising and setting of the sun was but an 
appearance, that in reality the sun never 
left us but darkness was caused by our 
turning away from it; that on dull days 
the sun was shining just as bright, but a 
cloud had come between it and us shut- 
ting off some of the light ; for they felt 
it most important that the children should 
be helped to correctly read the symbol 
that later on they might grasp the reality 
for which it stood, thus setting their feet 
firmly on the ladder set up between earth 
and heaven. Ignoring or misunderstand- 
ing the symbol, many fail to enter into the 
joy of the truth symbolized. 

" Nature,' ' says Drummond, " is not 
a mere image or emblem of the spiritual. 



25d KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

It is a working model of the spiritual." 
When the truth expressed in the words, 
" That is not first which is spiritual but 
that which is natural/' becomes better 
understood, we shall cease striving to 
force abstract ideas upon the young mind, 
and shall instead lay the chief stress upon 
filling their minds with symbols of truth, 
so laying a solid foundation for future 
thought; shall realize how worse than 
useless it is to try to awaken ideas in 
early life by words alone. Nature with 
her concrete examples will then be seen 
to be the truest teacher of childhood. 
Long before a child can gain any idea, 
for instance, of the truth of immortality 
from words, it begins to dawn in his 
mind through living in close communion 
with nature and finding in his mother a 
loving interpreter of her secrets. The 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 257 

child who has his attention early drawn 
to the connection and interdependence of 
the seasons, who sows seed in the spring, 
cares for the plants all summer, and in 
the fall gathers the newly formed seeds 
ready to plant the following spring, who 
watches the buds formed in the fall swell- 
ing and opening in the spring, who dram- 
atizes the life of the caterpillar and but- 
terfly, is planting in his mind seeds from 
which the full-grown flower will develop 
in after life. Debarred from or limited 
in such experiences in childhood, the 
mind at maturity has but a vague, hazy, 
unreal hold upon spiritual realities. 

" Let childhood ripen in childhood," 
was therefore one of the foundation 
stones in the life with which Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown strove to surround their 
children. They realized that life in this 



258 KINDERGARTEN IN THE HOME 

world, being one continuous whole begin- 
ning in the cradle and ending only in the 
grave, nothing was to be gained but much 
lost by attempting to hurry the individual 
out of childhood into manhood; that by 
depriving him of all or any of the expe- 
riences that properly belong to that stage 
we were interfering with his normal de- 
velopment and seriously handicapping 
his life. Step by step up the ladder must 
each individual climb, and education 
should aim to help him place his feet 
firmly on each rung. 

Thus the days, the months and years 
flew quickly by in the Brown homestead, 
father, mother and children forming one 
complete, united family, helping, inspir- 
ing, reverencing one another, while ever 
looking within for Light, Wisdom and 
Strength. 



THE MIRROR OF NATURE 259 

" Dear mother, when the busy day is done, 
And sleeping lies each tired little one, 
Then fold your own hands on a heart at rest 
And sleep with them upon God's loving breast. 

" The love that gave you such a sacred charge 
Is passing tender and exceeding large! 
Oh, trust it utterly, and it will pour 
Into each crevice of your life its store. 

" Then things unworthy shall no more find room, 
And like a sweet contagion in your home 
Your life shall be. A life that's hid in God 
Tells its great story without spoken word." 



THE END. 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 

THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS 

(Trade Mark) 

By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 

Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per vol. . $1.50 

THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES 

(Trade Mark) 
Being three " Little Colonel " stories in the Cosy Corner 
Series, " The Little Colonel," " Two Little Knights of 
Kentucky," and " The Giant Scissors," put into a single 
volume. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING 

(Trade Mark) 

SCHOOL 
THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS 

(Trade Mark) 

VACATION 
THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOUR 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES 

(Trade Mark) 

RIDING 
MARY WARE: THE LITTLE COLONEL'? 

(Trade Mark) 

CHUM 

These ten volumes, boxed as a ten-volume set. . $15.00 
A— 1 



Z. C. PAGE dr» COMPANY'S 



THE LITTLE COLONEL 

(.Trade Mark) 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
THE GIANT SCISSORS 
BIG BROTHER 

Special Holiday Editions 
Each one volume, cloth decorative, small quarto, $1.25 
New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page 
drawings in color, and many marginal sketches. 

IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend of 
Camelback Mountain. 

THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for 
Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
Daughters. 

KEEPING TRYST 

THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART 

THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: A 

Fairy Play for Old and Young. 

THE JESTER'S SWORD 

Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative . $0.50 

Paper boards .35 

There has been a constant demand for publication in 
separate form of these six stories, which were originally 
included in six of the " Little Colonel " books. 

JOEL : A BOY OF GALILEE : By Annie Fellows 
Johnston. Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. 
New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel 
Books, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative . $1.50 
A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author's 

best-known books. 

A— 2 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



THE LITTLE COLONEL GOOD TIMES BOOK 

Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series. $1.50 

Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold . . 3.00 
Cover design and decorations by Amy Carol Rand. 
The publishers have had many inquiries from readers 
of the Little Colonel books as to where they could obtain 
a " Good limes Book " such as Betty kept. Mrs. Johns- 
ton, who has for years kept such a book herself, has gone 
enthusiastically into the matter of the material and format 
for a similar book for her young readers. Every girl will 
want to possess a " Good Times Book." 
ASA HOLMES : Or, At the Cross-Roads. A sketch 
of Country Life and Country Humor. By Annie 
Fellows Johnston. 
With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery. 
Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top . . $1.00 

" ' Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads ' is the most 
delightful, most sympathetic and wholesome book that 
has been published in a long while." — Boston Times. 

THE RIVAL CAMPERS : Or, The Adventures of 
Henry Burns. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
A story of a party of typical American lads, courageous, 

alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on an 

island off the Maine coast. 

THE RIVAL CAMPERS AFLOAT: Or, The 
Prize Yacht Viking. By Ruel Perley Smith. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
This book is a continuation of the adventures of " The 
Rival Campers " on their prize yacht Viking, 

THE RIVAL CAMPERS ASHORE 

By Ruel Perley Smith. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

" As interesting ashore as when afloat." — The Interior. 

JACK HARVEY'S ADVENTURES: Or, The 
Rival Campers Among the Oyster Pirates. By 
Ruel Perley Smith. Illustrated . . $1.50 

" Just the type of book which is most popular with lads 

who are in their early teens." — The Philadelphia Item. 

A — 3 



Z. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 



PRISONERS OF FORTUNE : A Tale of the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Colony. By Kuel Perley Smith. 
Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece . $1.50 
" There is an atmosphere of old New England in the 
book, the humor of the born raconteur about the hero, 
who tells his story with the gravity of a preacher, but with 
a solemn humor that is irresistible." — Courier-J ournal. 

FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS. By Charles H. 

L. Johnston. 

Large 12mo. With 24 illustrations . . . $1.50 

Biographical sketches, with interesting anecdotes and 
reminiscences of the heroes of history who were leaders 
of cavalry. 

" More of such books should be written, books that 
acquaint young readers with historical personages in a 
pleasant informal way." — N. Y. Sun. 

FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS. By Charles H. L. 
Johnston. 

Large 12mo, illustrated $1.50 

In this book Mr. Johnston gives interesting sketches of 
the Indian braves who have figured with prominence in 
the history of our own land, including Powhatan, the 
Indian Csesar; Massasoit, the friend of the Puritans; 
Pontiac, the red Napoleon; Tecumseh, the famous war 
chief of the Shawnees; Sitting Bull, the famous war chief 
of the Sioux; Geronimo, the renowned Apache Chief, etc., 
etc. 

BILLY'S PRINCESS. By Helen Eggleston Has- 
kell. 
Cloth decorative, illustrated by Helen McCormick 

Kennedy $1.25 

Billy Lewis was a small boy of energy and ambition, so 

when he was left alone and unprotected, he simply started 

out to take care of himself. 

TENANTS OF THE TREES. By Clarence 
Hawkes. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated in colors . . $1.50 

" A book which will appeal to all who care for the 
hearty, healthy, outdoor life of the country. The illus- 
trations are particularly attractive." — Boston Herald. 
A — 4 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



BEAUTIFUL JOE'S PARADISE: Or, The Island 
of Brotherly Love. A sequel to " Beautiful Joe." 
By Marshall Saunders, author of " Beautiful Joe." 
One vol., library 12mo, cloth, illustrated . . $1.50 
" This book revives the spirit of ' Beautiful Joe ' capi- 
tally. It is fairly riotous with fun, and is about as unusual 
as anything in the animal book line that has seen the light." 
— Philadelphia Item. 

'TILDA JANE. By Marshall Saunders. 

One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
" I cannot think of any better book for children than 

this. I commend it unreservedly." — Cyrus Townsend 

Brady. 



'TILDA JANE'S ORPHANS. A sequel to 'Tilda 
Jane. By Marshall Saunders. 

One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth decorative, $1.50 
'Tilda Jane is the same original, delightful girl, and as 

*ond of her animal pets as ever. 

THE STORY OF THE GRAVELEYS. By Mar- 
shall Saunders, author of " Beautiful Joe's Para- 
dise," " 'Tilda Jane," etc. 
Library 12mo, cloth decorative. Illustrated by E. B. 

Barry $1.50 

Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and 
triumphs, of a delightful New England family, of whose 
devotion and sturdiness it will do the reader good to hear. 

BORN TO THE BLUE. By Florence Kimball 

RUSSEL. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . $1.25 

The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on 
every page of this delightful tale. The boy is the son of a 
captain of U. S. cavalry stationed at a frontier post in the 
days when our regulars earned the gratitude of a nation. 
A— 5 



L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 



IN WEST POINT GRAY 

By Florence Kimball Russel. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . SI. 50 
" Singularly enough one of the best books of the year 
for boys is written by a woman and deals with life at West 
Point. The presentment of life in the famous military 
academy whence so many heroes have graduated is realistic 
and enjoyable." — Xew York Sun. 

FROM CHEVRONS TO SHOULDER STRAPS 

By Florence Kimball Russel. 

12mo, cloth, illustrated, decorative . . . SI. 50 

West Point again forms the background of a new volume 

in this popular series, and relates the experience of Jack 

Stirling during his junior and senior years. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS FARM STORIES 

By Willlam J. Hopkins. With fifty illustrations by 

Ada Clendenin Williamson. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover .... SI. 50 

" An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of 
very small children. It should be one of the most popular 
of the year's books for reading to small children." — 
Buffalo Express. 

THE SANDMAN: MORE FARM STORIES 
By William J. Hopkins. 

Large 12mo. decorative cover, fully illustrated SI. 50 

Mr. Hopkins's first essay at bedtime stories met with 

such approval that this second book of " Sandman " tales 

was issued for scores of eager children. Life on the farm, 

and out-of-doors, is portrayed in his inimitable manner. 

THE SANDMAN: HIS SHIP STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins, author of " The Sandman: 
His Farm Stories," etc. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated SI. 50 
" Children call for these stories over and over again." — 
Chicago Evening Post. 

A—e 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



THE SANDMAN, HIS SEA STORIES 

By William J. Hopkins. 

Large 12mo, decorative cover, fully illustrated $1.50 

Each year adds to the popularity of this unique series 

of stories to be read to the little ones at bed time and at 

other times. 

THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL 

By Marion Ames Taggart, author of " Pussy-Cat 

Town," etc. 

One vol., library 12mo, illustrated . . . $1.50 

A thoroughly enjoyable tale of a little girl and her com- 
rade father, written in a delightful vein of sympathetic 
comprehension of the child's point of view. 

SWEET NANCY 

The Further Adventures of the Doctor's Little 

Girl. By Marion Ames Taggart. 

One vol., library, 12mo, illustrated . . . $1.50 

In the new book, the author tells how Nancy becomes 
in fact " the doctor's assistant," and continues to shed 
happiness around her. 

THE CHRISTMAS-MAKERS' CLUB 

By Edith A. Sawyer. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

A delightful story for girls, full of the real spirit of 

Christmas. It abounds in merrymaking and the right 

kind of fun. 

CARLOTA 

A Story of the San Gabriel Mission. By Frances 
Margaret Fox. 

Square 12mo. cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated 
in colors by Ethelind Ridgway . . . $1.00 

" It is a pleasure to recommend this little story as an 

entertaining contribution to juvenile literature." — The 

New York Sun. 

THE SEVEN CHRISTMAS CANDLES 

By Frances Margaret Fox. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors by Ethelind Ridgway . . $1.00 
Miss Fox's new book deals with the fortunes of the de- 
lightful Mulvaney children. 
A — 7 



L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 



PUSSY-CAT TOWN 

By Marion Ames Taggart. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors $1.00 

" Anything more interesting than the doings of the cats 
in this story, their humor, their wisdom, their patriotism, 
would be hard to imagine." — Chicago Post. 

THE ROSES OF SAINT ELIZABETH 

By Jane Scott Woodruff. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and decorated 
in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . . . $1.00 
This is a charming little story of a child whose father was 

caretaker of the great castle of the Wartburg, where Saint 

Elizabeth once had her home. 

GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 

By Evaleen Stein. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . . $1 .00 
Gabriel was a loving, patient, little French lad, who 
assisted the monks in the long ago days, when all the books 
were written and illuminated by hand, in the monasteries. 

THE ENCHANTED AUTOMOBILE 

Translated from the French by Mary J. Safford 
Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors by Edna M. Sawyer . . $1.00 
" An up-to-date French fairy-tale which fairly radiates 

the spirit of the hour, — unceasing diligence." — Chicago 

Record-Herald. 

O-HEART-SAN 

The Story of a Japanese Girl. By Helen Eggles- 
ton Haskell. 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and deco- 
rated in colors by Frank P. Fairbanks . $1.00 
" The story comes straight from the heart of Japan. 
The shadow of Fujiyama lies across it and from every 
page breathes the fragrance of tea leaves, cherry blossoms 
and chrysanthemums." — The Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

A — 8 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND: Or, The Adven- 
tures of Allan West. By Burton E. Stevenson. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
Mr. Stevenson's hero is a manly lad of sixteen, who is 
given a chance as a section-hand on a big Western rail- 
road, and whose experiences are as real as they are thrilling. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER. By Bur- 
ton E. Stevenson. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 

" A better book for boys has never left an American 

press." — Springfield Union. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER. By Burton E. 
Stevenson. 

Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
" Nothing better in the way of a book of adventure for 
boys in which the actualities of life are set forth in a practi- 
cal way could be devised or written." — Boston Herald. 

CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER. By Winn Standish. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . $1.50 
Jack is a fine example of the all-around American high- 
school boy. 

JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS: Or, Sports on 
Land and Lake. By Winn Standish. 
Square 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.50 

" It is exactly the sort of book to give a boy interested 

in athletics, for it shows him what it means to always 

' play fair.' " — Chicago Tribune. 

JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS: Or, Millvale 
High in Camp. By Winn Standish. 

Illustrated $1.50 

Full of just the kind of fun, sports and adventure to 

excite the healthy minded youngster to emulation. 

JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE: Or, The Act- 
ing Captain of the Team. By Winn Standish. 

Illustrated $1.50 

On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wres- 
tling, tobogganing, but it is more of a school story perhaps 
than any of its predecessors. 
— 9 



Z. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 



CAPTAIN JINKS : The Autobiography of a Shet- 
land Pony. By Frances Hodges White. 
Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . SI. 50 

The story of Captain Jinks and his faithful dog friend 
Billy, their quaint conversations and their exciting 
adventures, will be eagerly read by thousands of boys and 
girls. The story is beautifully written and will take its 
place alongside of " Black Beauty " and " Eeautiful Joe." 

THE RED FEATHERS. By Theodore Roberts. 
Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

" The Bed i eathers " tells of the remarkable adventures 

of an Indian boy who lived in the Stone Age, many years 

ago, when the world was young. 

FLYING PLOVER. By Theodore Roberts. 

Cloth decorative. Illustrated by Charles Livingston 

Bull $1.00 

Squat-By-The-Fire is a very old and wise Indian who 

lives alone with her grandson, " Flying Plover," to whom 

she tells the stories each evening. 

THE WRECK OF THE OCEAN QUEEN. By 

James Otis, author of " Larry Hudson's Ambition," etc. 
Cloth decorative, illustrated . . ._ . $1.50 

" A stirring story of wreck and mutiny, which boys will 
find especially absorbing. The many young admirers of 
James Otis will not let this book escape them, for it fully 
equals its many predecessors in excitement and sustained 
interest." — Chicago Evening Post. 

LITTLE WHITE INDIANS. By Fannie E. Os- 

TRANDER. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.25 

" A bright, interesting story which will appeal strongly 

to the 'make-believe' instinct in children, and will 

give them a healthy, active interest in 'the simple life.'" 

MARCHING WITH MORGAN. How Donald 

Lovell Became a Soldier of the Revolution. 

By John L. Veasy. 

Cloth decorative, illustrated .... $1.50 

This is a splendid boy's story of the expedition of 
Montgomery and Arnold against Quebec. 
A— 10 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



COSY CORNER SERIES 

It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall 
contain only the very highest and purest literature, — 
stories that shall not only appeal to the children them- 
selves, but be appreciated by all those who feel with 
them in their joys and sorrows. 

The numerous illustrations in each book are by well- 
known artists, and each volume has a separate attract- 
ive cover design. 

Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 

By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON 

THE LITTLE COLONEL (Trade Mark.) 

The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its hero- 
ine is a small girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, 
on account of her fancied resemblance to an old-school 
Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and old family 
are famous in the region. 

THE GIANT SCISSORS 

This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in 
France. Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, 
and in later volumes shares with her the delightful ex- 
periences of the " House Party " and the " Holidays." 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 

Who Were the Little Colonel's Neighbors. 

In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an 
old friend, but with added grace and charm. She is not, 
however, the central figure of the story, that place being 
taken by the " two little knights." 

MILDRED'S INHERITANCE 

A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who 
comes to America and is befriended by a sympathetic 
American family who are attracted by her beautiful 
speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is en- 
abled to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the 
use of her eyes, and thus finally her life becomes a busy, 
happy one. 

A — 11 



L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 



By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON (Continued) 

CICELY AND OTHER STORIES FOR GIRLS 

The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles 
will be glad to learn of the issue of this volume for young 
people. 

AUNT 'LIZA'S HERO AND OTHER STORIES 

A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal 
to all boys and most girls. 

BIG BROTHER 

A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Stephen, 
himself a small boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of 
the simple tale. 

OLE MAMMY'S TORMENT 

" Ole Mammy's Torment " has been fitly called " a 
classic of Southern life." It relates the haps and mis- 
haps of a small negro lad, and tells how he was led by 
love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. 

THE STORY OF DAGO 

In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, 
a pet monkey, owned jointly by two brothers. Dago 
tells his own story, and the account of his haps and mis- 
haps is both interesting and amusing. 

THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT 

A pleasant little story of a boy's labor of love, and how 
it changed the course of his life many years after it was 
accomplished 

FLIP'S ISLANDS OF PROVIDENCE 

A story of a boy's life battle, his early defeat, and his 
final triumph, well worth the reading. 
A — 12 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 



By EDITH ROBINSON 

A LITTLE PURITAN'S FIRST CHRISTMAS 

A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christ- 
mas was invented by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the 
Puritans, aided by her brother Sam. 

A LITTLE DAUGHTER OF LIBERTY 

The author introduces this story as follows: 
" One ride is memorable in the early history of the 
American Revolution, the well-known ride of Paul 
Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is another 
ride, — the ride of Anthony Severn, — which was no less 
historic in its action or memorable in its consequences." 

A LOYAL LITTLE MAID 

A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary 
days, in which the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders 
important services to George Washington. 

A LITTLE PURITAN REBEL 

This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time 
when the gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massa- 
chusetts. 

A LITTLE PURITAN PIONEER 

The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement 
at Charlestown. 

A LITTLE PURITAN BOUND GIRL 

A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great 
interest to youthful readers. 

A LITTLE PURITAN CAVALIER 

The story of a " Little Puritan Cavalier " who tried 
with all his boyish enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and 
ideals of the dead Crusaders. 

A PURITAN KNIGHT ERRANT 

The story tells of a young lad in Colonial times who 
endeavored to carry out the high ideals of the knights 
of olden days. 
A— 13 



L. C. PAGE 6- COMPANY'S 



By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramee) 

A DOG OF FLANDERS 

A Christmas Story 

Too well and favorably known to require description. 

THE NURNBERG STOVE 

This beautiful story has never before been published 
at a popular price. 

By FRANCES MARGARET FOX 

THE LITTLE GIANT'S NEIGHBOURS 

A charming nature story of a " little giant " whose 
neighbors were the creatures of the field and garden. 

FARMER BROWN AND THE BIRDS 

A little story which teaches children that the birds are 
man's best friends. 

BETTY OF OLD MACKINAW 

A charming story of child life. 

BROTHER BILLY 

The story of Betty's brother, and some further adven- 
tures of Betty herself. 

MOTHER NATURE'S LITTLE ONES 

Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or 
" childhood," of the little creatures out-of-doors. 

HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO THE MUL- 

VANEYS 

A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children 
with an unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. 

THE COUNTRY CHRISTMAS 

Miss Fox has vividly described the happy surprises that 
made the occasion so memorable to the Mulvaneys, and 
the funny things the children did in their new environ- 
ment. 
A— 14 



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